WASHINGTON – If it isn’t Rule No. 1 at freshman orientation for Congress, it should be: Don’t make out with your congressional staffers in view of surveillance video.
Rep. Vance McAllister, a freshman Louisiana Republican who campaigned on his religious values, got caught on camera locking lips with his district office scheduler, according to a local newspaper paper.
On grainy surveillance video that appears to have been shot outside his district office, the married McAllister can be seen kissing his blonde district director, Melissa Anne Hixon Peacock, the Ouachita Citizen reported.
Recorded two days before Christmas, the video shows the two embracing and make out for nearly 30 seconds, before strolling inside McAllister’s Monroe, La. district
office.
The video appears to show the man identified as McAllister turning off the lights just before the smooching begins.
The paper got the video from anonymous sources, and identified the randy lawmaker and Peacock, who it reports is his longtime family friend.
McAllister, 40, has barely had time to learn the ways of Washington, where former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner and a long list of lawmakers have had embarrassing shenanigans exposed.
He came to Congress in November 2013 after winning a special election when Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) left Congress.
Election records identify two campaign contributions totaling $5,200 from Melissa Peacock to McAllister’s campaign from October, 2013. Her occupation is described as “self-employed cosmetology” on FEC forms.
Before the video rippled across DC Monday, McAllister’s claim to fame was bringing “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson as his guest to President Obama’s State of the Union Address.
“There’s no doubt I’ve fallen short and I’m asking for forgiveness. I’m asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff, and my constituents who elected me to serve,” McAllister said in a statement. “I promise to do everything I can to earn back the trust of everyone I’ve disappointed,” he said, adding: “I’m very sorry for what I’ve done.”
During his campaign, McAllister shot a campaign video in his kitchen along with his five kids, where he says: “Here at the McAllister house, we have a big family breakfast every Sunday before church. Kelly does the cooking, and I do the dishes.”
He promised to uphold the “values of faith, family, and country,” and promises to “take those values to Washington” and “defend our Christian way of life.”