A Timeline of United States Political Scandals; From Jefferson to Weiner, History Repeats Itself in a Most Unfortunate Way; "Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa?"

AP Photo

Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner, A New York Democrat would become the third member of the U.S. Congress this year to step down because of a sex scandal. Unfortunately, this is a recurring problem with our elected officials. Here's a rundown of some of the most shocking:

1802: Thomas Jefferson (left)  was rumored to have had an affair with his slave Sally Hemings. DNA tests of their descendants confirmed it in 1998.

1884: Grover Cleveland won his election despite opponents making an issue of his illegitimate child with chants of " Ma, ma, where's my pa"? Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha."

1903: The Speaker of the House, David Henderson (right) (R-Iowa), was forced to resign over his sexual relationship with the daughter of a senator. Henderson never said why he was quitting, and neither did the press.

1974: Rep. Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.), (pictured below left)  the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was forced to resign s chairman after cavorting with a stripper with the stage-name Fanne Foxe (below, left). In 1976 he decided to not seek another term after a 38 year career in the Congress.

1976: Rep. Wayne Hays (D-Ohio) resigned as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when it was discovered that Elizabeth Ray, a secretary for the House Administration Committee, headed by Hays, was highly unqualified for the $14,000 a year job. Hays later dropped his reelection bid, and finally resigned on September 1.

1976: Rep. John Young (D-Tex.) was accused of making sexual advances to a staff secretary who capitulated for an increase in her salary. He had just been reelected but the scandal wouldn't go away and in 1978 Young was defeated in a Democratic primary runoff.

1976: Rep. Allan Howe was arrested in Salt Lake City on charges of soliciting two policewomen posing as prostitutes. Howe i refused to resign but lost an election to a Republican candidate in the next election.

1978: Rep. Fred Richmond (D-N.Y.) was arrested in Washington for soliciting a 16-year-old boy. Richmond apologized and easily won renomination and reelection. After pleading guilty to possession of marijuana and tax evasion a couple of years later, he resigned his seat.

1980: Rep. Jon Hinson (R-Miss.) admitted during a reelection bid that he had been accused of committing an obscene act at a gay bar in 1976 allegedly to clear his conscience..He won the election but three months later was arrested for attempted oral sodomy in the restroom of a House office building. He resigned in April 1981.

1980: Rep. Robert Bauman (R-Md.) a "pro-family" conservative lost his next election after being accused of committing oral sodomy on a teenage boy in Washington. He pleaded innocent to the charges.

1981: Rep. Thomas Evans (R-Del.) was not reelected after he and three other House members shared a cottage during a 1980 vacation in Florida with Paula Parkinson, a lobbyist who later posed for Playboy magazine.

1983: Reps. Dan Crane (R-Ill.) and Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) were accused by the House ethics committee of having sexual relationships with congressional pages – Crane with a 17-year-old female in 1980, Studds with a 17-year-old male in 1973. The full House voted to censure the two, the first time that ever happened for sexual misconduct. Crane was voted out in the next election but Studds stayed in office until the mid-90s.

1987: Rep. Ernie Konnyu (R-Calif.) was accused of sexually harassing two former aides. He lost in the primary of the next election.

1987: Colorado Sen. Gary Hart announced his second Democratic presidential run in 1987, after news outlets report he was having an extramarital affair with 29-year-old model Donna Rice

1988; Sen. Brock Adams (D-Wash.) was accused by several women over the years of sexually harassing them. He ended his 1992 campaign after the accusations increased. He maintained his innocence.

1988: Rep. Jim Bates (D-Calif.)was accused by aides of making sexual advances toward female staffers. The story came too close to Election Day to damage Bates, who won easily. When the ethics committee forced him to make a formal apology, he lost his next election.

1989: Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens (R-Ohio) was accused by the mother of a Columbus teenager that Lukens had been paying to have sex with her daughter since she was 13. He resigned in October of the followin year after being accused of fondling a Capitol elevator operator.

1989: Rep. Gus Savage (D-Ill.) was accused of fondling a Peace Corps volunteer while on an official visit to Zaire. Savage called the story a lie and was reelected in 1990, but finally ousted in the 1992 primary.

1989: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) confirmed that he hired Steve Gobie, a male prostitute to live with and work for him in his D.C. apartment. The Boston Globe, among others, called on Frank to resign, but he refused. Attempts to expel or censure Frank failed and he is still in Congress today.

1990: Rep. Arlan Stangeland (R-Minn.) had made several hundred long-distance phone calls on his House credit card to or from the residences of a female lobbyist. Stangeland was married with a large family acknowledged the calls and said some of them may have been personal but not romantic. He was voted out in the next election.

1991: Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.)  married to Lyndon Johnson's daughter, was accused of having a extra-marital affair but said all that took place was a massage over a bottle of wine. Robb won his next election after the Republians nominated Oliver North to run against him.

1992: Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) was accused of sexual harassment by his hairdresser. He denied the charges and the Senate Ethics Committee decided to drop the investigation because the accusers wouldn't participate in an inquiry.

1992: Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) allegedly sexually harassed 10 female staffers. He denied the charges. When more women came forward with stories, there were calls for his resignation. In September of 1995 when, faced with expulsion, Packwood announced his resignation.

1992: Gennifer Flowers revealed a 12-year affair with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton to a tabloid newspaper shortly before the Democratic primaries.

1994: Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.) was indicted on charges of having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker and then pressuring her to lie about it. Reynolds denied the charges about was convicted on Aug. 22, 1995 of several offenses finally resigned his seat on October 1.

1998: President Bill Clinton (left) admits to having an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2004: New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey steps down after disclosing he had an affair with another man.

2006: Republican Representative Mark Foley of Florida resigned after it was disclosed that he had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to male pages.

2008: Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho did not run for re-election in 2008 after he was arrested on charges of soliciting sex in an airport men's room.

2008: New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer admitted to having an affair with 22-year-old call girl Ashley Dupre.

2008: Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards admits he had an affair with former campaign videographer Rielle Hunter during his second presidential run.

2008: Rep.Vito Fossella (R.NY) fathered a 3-year-old love child in an illicit affair with a female retired Air Force officer. He was married with three children and did not run for reelection.

2009: Sen. John Ensign, R-NV, confesses to having an extra-marital affair with a former campaign aide. 

2009: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair with his 'soul mate', a woman living in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2010: Republican Senator David of Louisiana was identified as a client of a prostitution service. He won re-election in 2010 after asking for forgiveness.

2010: Democratic Representative Eric Massa of New York resigned to avoid an ethics probe into alleged sexual misconduct toward a male staffer.

2010: Republican Representative Mark Souder of Indiana resigned in 2010 after admitting that he had an affair with a female staffer.

2011: Republican Representative Chris Lee of New York resigned in February shortly after it was disclosed that he sent a shirtless photo of himself over the Internet to a woman who was not his wife.

2011: Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada stepped down in May as an ethics committee was wrapping up an investigation into his affair with a former aide and an attempted cover-up.

2011: Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to fathering an illegitimate  child 10 years ago with his housekeeper. He is married to Maria Shriver who has filed for divorce.

....and then there was WEINER....