Because there seems to be something wrong in the water over on C Street …
HuffPo has a story this morning about another alum of the “C Street” boarding house for conservative Christian congressmen who’s facing charges of marital infidelity. This time it’s former Rep. Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican who is charged with conducting an affair while living at C Street.
(You’ll recall that the C Street house, run by the secretive evangelical group The Family, was home to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford before he starting seeking love along the Appalachian Trail, and also Sen. John Ensign, who admitted to sleeping with a campaign worker’s wife. It’s also home to Sen. Tom Coburn, who The Washington Post reported was trying to convince the husband of Ensign’s mistress to forgive and forget.)
From HuffPo:
JACKSON, Miss. – The estranged wife of former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering claims in a lawsuit that the Mississippi Republican had an affair that ruined their marriage and derailed his political career.
Leisha Pickering said in the lawsuit filed this week that her husband and the woman dated in college, reconnected and began having an affair while he was in Congress and living in a building where several Christian lawmakers reside on C Street near the U.S. Capitol. Chip Pickering is the third Republican with ties to the building at 133 C Street SE to find his personal life making headlines in recent weeks, after Nevada U.S. Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Leisha Pickering is seeking unspecified damages in the alienation of affection lawsuit she filed this week against Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd of Jackson. The Pickerings filed for divorce in June 2008, but it is not complete.
