'Local news': Democrat aide charged with soliciting sex from a 13 year old

By Thomas Lifson

From the Seattle Times "local news" page:

James Michael McHaney, 28, was charged Saturday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with using a computer to arrange a sexual encounter with an informant posing as a boy, according to court records.

Funny that something which happened in the District of Columbia is called "local news" by a Seattle paper. If they made it "political news" maybe more people outside of the Seattle metropolitan area might notice it.

Why would the Seattle Times care?

McHaney was a staffer for Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat.

McHaney joined Cantwell's staff in 2006. He could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, Cantwell's chief of staff, Michael Meehan, said, "late Friday afternoon the FBI informed our office that a Senate employee was arrested. The employee was immediately fired.

"Our office has and will continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing federal criminal investigation. Senator Cantwell has zero tolerance for crimes against children."

Cantwell's office did not respond to questions about whether a computer in her congressional office was used in the alleged solicitation.

The court affidavit said McHaney was online on AOL about 12:15 p.m. on Friday with the FBI's witness, who was posing as a teenage boy.

Asked if he was going to stay at work all day, McHaney allegedly said he could take a "long lunch." The Senate was still on Thanksgiving break last week.

So we are left with the suggestion that a Senate office may have been used to set up an intended felonious sexual assignation. I wouldn't expect the national press will be interested in this. It's not as if he was tapping his toes in an airport men's room.

McHaney has a lot of former friends among big time Democrats:

Before joining Cantwell's office, McHaney worked for the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign and before that as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Ohio.

But we all know that the only sex scandals that interest the press are those involving Republicans

Hat tip: Richard Baehr