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Senator Paul Stanley Resigns over Intern Affair and Extortion

by Amy Judd | July 30, 2009 at 11:40 am

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Tennessee Senator Paul Stanley announced that he will resign today over his affair with a government intern, McKensie Morrison. He said he will resign on August 10th after his affair and subsequent extortion became public knowledge.

McKensie's boyfriend Joel Watts has been arrested for the attempted extortion for contacting the Senatory and threatening to release nude photos of Stanley and Morrison taken at Stanley's apartment. He asked for $10,000 to stop the release.

Senator Paul Stanley had this to say:

"Whatever I stood for and advocated, I still believe to be true," he told Memphis radio station WREC-AM Tuesday. "And just because I fell far short of what God's standard was for me and my wife, doesn't mean that that standard is reduced in the least bit."

Joel Watts found the nude photos of the Senator and his girlfriend that were taken on a cell phone, and then threatened to release them to the media.

"Good morning, sir. How are you this fine day? McKensie and I have been talking, and I feel that I have a video and some pictures you might be interested in seeing," Watts allegedly texted to Stanley, according to a transcript read aloud during the hearing, as reported by The Associated Press.

Stanley then contacted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and they told him to play along with Watts' demand.
They gave him the $10,000 that Watts wanted and set up a meeting between the two of them on April 9th - after the meeting took place, Watts was arrested.

Lt. Gov Ron Ramsey said that Stanley had been having marital problems for some time:

"First of June, end of May he was in my office, he told me he and his wife were going to be separated," said Ramsey, "and obviously we had a good conversation about that. Both of us were upset about that."

The 22-year-old McKensie Morrison has already been involved in controversy, after being arrested for cocaine possession, and her marriage to a man who is now serving jail time for beating a 75-year-old in the head with a hammer.

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