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Britton Clarke (Paul Morigi/WireImage.com)
Christopher Lee (
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Shamed former Congressman Christopher Lee was ordered by John Boehner to curtail his randy DC antics after word got around that the married lawmaker was dating a young salesclerk from a mall across the river, The Post has learned.
The warning came last year during a pre-election powwow called by then-House Minority Leader Boehner, who had grown worried that the Buffalo-area Republican, along with a band of other party-prowling pols, would embarrass the GOP, sources said.
The meeting was held “after it became clear the GOP was going to win,” one source said. “It wasn’t Lee’s first warning.”
A source familiar with the meeting said staffers on the Hill “had known for a long time that [Lee] had a relationship” with a woman who worked at an upscale Pentagon City department store in Arlington, Va.
While that friendship was in bloom, Lee and other lawmakers were frequently spotted out on the town with a gaggle of gorgeous lobbyists, including Britton Clarke of the American Trucking Associations, the NRA’s Liz Williams and Patriot Group’s Jill Warren.
Soon after the Boehner sitdown, Lee was told he was getting a big “promotion” — a seat on the influential Ways and Means Committee.
In return, he was told, he “better clean up his act,” a source said.
But within days of the Republicans gaining control of the House, Lee was trolling for women on Craigslist.
Lee’s career flamed out after suggestive e-mails and a bare-chested photo he sent to a potential paramour in January were posted online Wednesday.
He resigned hours later.
There was no sign of Lee yesterday at his new home in Buffalo’s Pomeroy Park area, where his wife, Michele, 44, packed luggage with their young son in tow. She left the home and didn’t return.
Also yesterday, Lee’s 34-year-old online gal pal said she wasn’t his first and suggested Michele “get tested” for sexually transmitted diseases.
“Chances are he’s probably met more women online,” the woman, identified by The Washington Post as Yesha Callahan, told Beltway Web site TheLoop21.com.
“You never get caught the first time,” said the single mom and human-resources worker at University of Maryland.
Reps for Lee could not be reached yesterday.
The Post’s Page Six first reported Boehner’s warning last July but didn’t name Lee as a recipient.
Additional reporting by Tara Palmeri, S.A. Miller, Rebecca Rosenberg and Tom Francis