By: A top aide to state Sen. Lisa Boscola said Wednesday he has submitted his resignation because of his profanity-laced remarks on a blog about U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent and a potential Democratic challenger.
However, Boscola said she had not accepted the resignation of the aide, Bernard J. Kieklak, her Harrisburg-based chief of staff, and wanted to talk to him first, The Morning Call newspaper of Allentown reported on its Web site.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Kieklak said he is a "liability" to Boscola, a Northampton County Democrat who is considered a potential candidate for Congress in 2008.
"I made it clear to the senator early this morning that I regret this incident reflected on her in any way and I am resigning," Kieklak wrote.
Kieklak did not report to work Wednesday. In a separate interview while in the Senate chamber, Boscola said Kieklak's language was inappropriate and vulgar, and that she had suspended him without pay.
"People are looking at it like I said it," Boscola said.
Initially, Kieklak defended his writings as a private citizen exercising his First Amendment rights, according to an article in Wednesday's editions of The Morning Call, which first reported the blog entries.
Kieklak's online comments addressed Dent, a second-term Republican, and Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, who runs an Allentown nonprofit and is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Dent in the 2008 election. The comments, posted Friday, came in response to blog entries on the merits of the candidates.
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