New York Congressman's resignation official following Internet dating scandal

The news of Republican Representative Christopher Lee’s resignation is official, after being announced yesterday afternoon in the US House of Representatives following Lee’s internet dating scandal surfacing in the media.

US media sites went into a frenzy following leaks of the scandal, which started to come to light Wednesday afternoon, when a half-naked photograph of Lee was published publicly online.

Lee, 46, spoke out after news broke that he was using the dating section of a popular Internet site to contact a woman who was not his wife. After the news leaked through a series of websites, within hours the married congressman decided to quit his job.

He resigned by letter and stated that, “it has been a tremendous honour to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.”

He went on to say that, “The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.”

The congressman had sent flirtatious messages and a bare-chested photograph of himself to another woman through the Craigslist website. The woman who he was contacting searched for him online, and when she found out his real identity, she sold the news to a popular gossip site.

He was serving his second two-year term in the House of Representatives, representing a district in western New York state.

Lee's resignation came just a month after his fellow Republicans formally took control of the House of Representatives from President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats.

His decision to quit Congress quickly after the scandal erupted came as House Republicans sought to focus attention on efforts such as trimming federal spending and rolling back Obama's healthcare overhaul law.

Lee was a member of two powerful House committees -- the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and the Financial Services Committee. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2008 and was re-elected in November.