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Sen. John McGee is now just John McGee. The embattled legislator resigned, Wednesday, amidst allegations he sexually harassed a senate attaché.

“It was a shock,” Minority Caucus Chair Sen. Michelle Stennett said.

“In all honesty, this fell out of the sky,” Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Winder said.

“We were shocked,” Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said.

Astonishment and allegations of sexual harassment now patrol our state’s halls of leadership.
“If they are true,” Hill said, “certainly it’d be out of character for anybody I know.”

It might also cause Hill to reexamine a character he thought he knew: John McGee. The allegations arose less than a year after McGee got drunk and woke up in a stolen car in a strange driveway.

“Certainly,” Hill said, “he had some problems this summer and they seemed out of character as well. I’m not saying this is a pattern or anything else.”

“This is not something that either party enjoys seeing in this body,” Stennett said. “And it does sadden us.”

“Everybody loses in a situation like this and we’re very saddened by it,” Hill said.

Senate leaders expressed that sadness at a news conference where they fielded a series of questions about whether McGee could face criminal charges.

“I’m just a country lawyer that practices commercial law,” Majority Leader Bart Davis said.

Davis, Winder and Hill said they didn’t know what legal repercussions might await McGee. They also declined to offer their opinion on the future of McGee’s political career.

“Boy,” Hill said, “that’s a question for his constituents and the people of Idaho.”

The attorney general will now conduct a review of the situation and determine how best to proceed. The attaché has been placed on paid leave.