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Sources Accuse Racalto Of Framing Massa In 2010

June 28, 2012

HORNELL, NY - Some people are eager to clear former Congressman Eric Massa’s name. Massa resigned in disgrace in 2010 amid allegations of sexual harassment. Numerous sources are alleging that Massa was framed by his former chief of Staff Hornell native Joe Racalto. They maintain that Racalto turned against Massa, created a paper trail of lies to make Massa look like a sexual predator, and then instigated a house-investigation about Massa and leaking news of this investigation to the media at the same time. All of this they say happened, while Racalto was pretending to be Massa’s friend.

Here’s what we can tell you from the legal documents we’ve obtained: about a month after Massa resigned from the House of Representatives, Racalto filed a claim in the House, saying that he had been sexually harassed by Massa. Documents show that Racalto paints a picture of Massa being a bar-hopper who frequented gay and straight bars, and sexually harassed Racalto and other male staffers.
Clearly, none of these sexual assaults were welcomed by Mr. Racalto," Racalto's attorney stated. Racalto also maintained that Massa groped him 4 different times. "He told the Congressman his advances were unwanted. He pushed the Congressman away. He told the Congressman not to do it again." Racalto tells a story of how Massa was drinking, swearing, making threats to staffers, using the “F” word, and talking inappropriately. From reading Racalto’s version, it appears that Racalto was trying to save Massa from self-destructing.

However, Massa’s side of the story is quite different. Massa’s account can be found in house legal documents in which attorneys describe Racalto as lying, possessive, jealous and controlling of Massa. These attorneys charge that Racalto lied constantly, telling small lies, medium lies and very big lies, sometimes for financial gain. The attorneys say Racalto lied about Massa, and that Racalto could not back up any of his claims against the Congressman.

The document says “in addition to navigating the monumental of lies that Racalto told while he was chief of staff for Massa, after Massa resigned, and during the hearing itself, the evidence Racalto presented during six days of testimony is most noteworthy for one salient point: Not one single witness’s testimony, nor any exhibit, e-mail, business record, news article, photograph, text message, letter, memoranda, or hand- written note offered at trial corroborated a single iota of evidence to submit Racalto’s contention that he was sexually harassed by Massa.”

Several sources say Racalto lost the sexual harassment claim in the House. So far, Congress has not made the House’s final conclusions in the Racalto sexual harassment claim public. Massa and Racalto are awaiting a trial case in Rochester in which Massa claims Racalto improperly got himself a check for $40,000 for alleged campaign work. Massa is seeking to recover that money.

Massa would not comment on this story, Joe Racalto called Massa’s supporters accusations “laughable”. Eric Massa is now unemployed and lives in Corning, Joe Racalto is Vice President for a LBGT (Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Gay, Transgender) organization in Washington. This is probably not the final chapter of this story.