YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Despite Republican leaders calling on Washington lawmaker Rep. Matt Manweller to resign in the wake of new sexual misconduct allegations, Manweller says he will finish his term but will resign if re-elected.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports Manweller said in a message Monday that it’s important he’s re-elected so the seat can be filled with another Republican when he resigns.
On Friday, The Northwest News Network reported that a former Idaho high school student of Manweller’s said she had a sexual relationship with him in the 1990s, when she was 17 and he was 27. He denies they had a sexual relationship when she was 17.
Last month, Central Washington University fired Manweller from his job as a political-science professor because of an investigation that found he engaged in a pattern of unprofessional and inappropriate behavior.
He’s suing the university and has denied the allegations.