(CNN) — The chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party called Thursday on Vance McAllister to resign after surveillance video surfaced showing the married Louisiana congressman kissing an aide in his office.
And House Speaker John Boehner also appeared to criticize the congressman’s behavior and said he’s spoken to McAllister and that the freshman representative “has a decision to make.”
“I expect all members to be held to the highest ethical standards and this is no different,” said Boehner, R-Ohio, during his weekly news conference.
Soon after Boehner spoke with reporters, Louisiana GOP chair Roger F. Villere, Jr. issued a statement calling on the embattled congressman to step down, citing McAllister’s infidelity as an example of a well-worn hypocrisy in politics.
“A breach of trust of this magnitude can only be rectified by an immediate resignation. He has embarrassed our party, our state and the institution of Congress,” Villere said.
CNN has reached out to McAllister’s congressional office for reaction to Villere’s statement, but has yet to receive a response.
McAllister represents Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, which is considered a safe seat for the GOP.
“A video showing him engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of Congress, on public time, in a public office, with one of his employees, was the focus of the national press for days.”
On Monday, The Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe, Louisiana, published a surveillance video it says shows McAllister and his scheduler, Melissa Hixon Peacock, passionately kissing in his office last December. The story quickly made national headlines.
McAllister, who is married with five children, issued a statement on Monday saying, “There’s no doubt I’ve fallen short and I’m asking for forgiveness. I’m asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff, and my constituents who elected me to serve.”
McAllister was elected in a November special election to fill the vacancy left by GOP Rep. Rodney Alexander’s resignation. McAllister campaigned as a Christian conservative — a claim Peacock disputed.
“I know his beliefs. When he ran one of his commercials, he said ‘I need your prayers,’ and I asked, ‘When did you get religious?’ He said, ‘When I needed votes,'” Peacock recalled. “He broke out the religious card and he’s about the most non-religious person I know.”
McAllister also made headlines earlier this year when he invited “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson to be his guest at the President’s State of the Union address.
The husband of the woman caught making out with Rep. Vance McAllister said the Louisiana Republican destroyed his life and marriage.
“I’m just freaking devastated by the whole deal, man. I loved my wife so much. I cannot believe this. I cannot freaking believe it. I feel like I’m going to wake up here in a minute and this is all going to be a bad nightmare,” Heath Peacock told CNN Tuesday.
Heath Peacock said he didn’t know about the episode until Melissa called him a couple hours before the news broke.
“It was just a kiss, that was all it was, but it embarrassed me and my family,” Heath Peacock added. “This guy has turned my life upside down.”
“He has wrecked my life,” Peacock, 34, said of McAllister. “We’re headed for divorce.”
Peacock noted that McAllister’s “apologized to everyone in the world except me.”
Heath and Melissa Peacock have been married for six years and have a 6-year-old son. Melissa Peacock no longer works for McAllister, Heath Peacock said.
CNN’s Chis Frates, Curt Devine, Deirdre Walsh, Lisa Desjardins, Steve Brusk, Dana Davidsen and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
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