Robert Decheine, Rep. Steve Rothman's Chief Of Staff, Fired After Arrest For Soliciting Sex From Minor

Robert Decheine, chief of staff to Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), has been fired following his arrest last week for allegedly soliciting sex from a minor, the lawmaker's office announced Tuesday.

"Congressman Rothman immediately consulted appropriate House counsel and terminated Mr. Decheine's employment, effective November 19, 2010, due to the very serious nature of this charge," Rothman spokesman Aaron Keyak said in a statement. "Congressman Rothman considers this alleged criminal act to be shocking, appalling and indefensible. As a parent, he understands the vital importance of protecting our children from predators."

According to the statement, Decheine was arrested in Gaithersburg, Md. at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

New Jersey's The Record reports that Decheine was arrested in a "sting" that "involved placing ads on a 'known website' and then communicating via phone or text message between an undercover officer and a 'John.'"

More from The Record:

Decheine, 48, lives in the District of Columbia and had been Rothman's top aide and confidante since May 2003, running both the Washington and North Jersey offices. He also was paid by Rothman's re-election campaign account. A former aide to Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold, Decheine was a senior adviser to President Obama's campaign organization in New Jersey.

Politico reports that Marc Cevasco, Rothman's legislative director will serve as acting chief of staff for the time being.

Comments

[kasinca]

11:35 AM on 11/25/2010

The fact that this guy is as convicted felon, could be sentenced to life in prison and there is a bottom feeder on this site trying to defend him. Go figure rightwing troglodytes. That say so much about the low browed, angry, mob on the right.

[QuietNetworker]

02:22 AM on 11/27/2010

Which guy is a convicted felon?

[kasinca]

10:06 AM on 11/27/2010

DeLay was convicted of money laundering by a jury of twelve citizens, six men, and six women. That is fact.

[gfirmin57]

10:58 AM on 12/11/2010

What are you ranting about? Did you run out of meds?

[herbabeast]

06:32 AM on 11/25/2010

Delay's main problem was shilling for the wealthy and powerful without have the blue-blood that goes with wealth and power. If he were living on Grandad's crimes, instead of his own, he would never be prosecuted.
The wealthy and powerful hate poor people; but not as much as they hate poor people who become rich through their own crime and sociopathy, instead of living on their grandparents crimes and sociopathic behavior. LIke the Bushes and Forbes and most Republican leaders.

[kasukabe]

02:42 AM on 11/25/2010

Now let's be honest here. How many people saw the headline and thought to themselves "boy I hope this is a Republican"?

If this was a Republican it would be held up as a further sign of that party's hypocrisy in moral matters. As this is a matter concerning the Democratic party it instead becomes a matter of throwing as much mud a possible back on the Republicans and hoping that some sticks.

Please understand I am not a Republican or a Democrat for that matter but it is a sad day when the sexual abuse of a minor becomes a weapon with which to beat the other side with especially when both sides are guilty of hypocrisy when it comes to members of their own sides.

[VOTER]

12:33 AM on 11/25/2010

Thanksgiving Menu Change - for DeLay
Lots and lots of Wild Turkey................in a glass.

[VOTER]

12:35 AM on 11/25/2010

Ooops - lost my page on DeLay.

LOL

[Puller58]

09:18 PM on 11/24/2010

Just another tool on the Hill.

[1jdgriff]

07:51 PM on 11/24/2010

Soliciting a undercover cop. Wonder what his defense will be? "I have an unusually wide stance" has already been used.

[FOXYROSE]

06:18 PM on 11/24/2010

He should move in with Barney - they could "party" together lol!

[BlackWidowPilot]

06:20 PM on 11/24/2010

He'd be more at home sharing a cell with one of these from a list of over seventy (70) to choose from:

http://www.republicanoffenders.com

Take yer pick, citizen, the "party of conservative Christian family values" has plenty to spare!

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[charles116]

02:19 AM on 11/25/2010

Barney is obviously too old.

[gomezrules]

04:45 PM on 11/24/2010

This story won't see much attention given to it on venues like this. If this involved a Republican, the HP would dutifully keep it front and center 24/7, along with their fellow abettors like MSNBC, in portraying this as an indictment of all who might be affiliated with the GOP. When true transgressions occur that do involve a Republican official, the Dems will sit on it for maximum political effect if they see an advantage to that, even if others are victimized, as happened with Foley from FL. Foley is dirt to say the least, but Pelosi felt it better to keep from 'exposing' him until closer to election time, and if others became victims of his, all the better as far as the Dems were concerned. Kind of like what happened with Katrina. The higher the body count among those the Dems who ran the city didn't see fit to dispatch city assets to move out, like their school busses, the better. The more deaths (and only among a certain demographic, all other deaths from Katrina didn't count, then or now), the more they celebrated, because those deaths were something they could exploit politically. That's just the way they are.
 
So with no political advantage here for the Dems, look for the HP and all other leftist sites to bury this ASAP. They can say they reported it, but that's all. All other editorializing is reserved for GOP wrong doing, whether that be real or invented.

[BlackWidowPilot]

06:19 PM on 11/24/2010

Oh ye of short memory:

http://www.republicanoffenders.com

Speaking of body counts, what about all those WMDs yer Dear Leader promised us all over 900 times, hmmm? I for one am sick of waiting for my share of the WMDs we were all promised, so hand 'em over!

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Puller58]

09:19 PM on 11/24/2010

Dude, you got Fox News.  What more do you want and why are you here?

[StopMakingSense2]

03:11 PM on 11/24/2010

Boy, lots of miners in the news lately. Was it Chilean, Chinese, or New Zealanders this time?

[Artisan53]

02:57 PM on 11/24/2010

Obviously, Fox News and the Koch brothers planted this guy in Rothman's office to make the Democrats look bad.

[pindiva]

03:02 PM on 11/24/2010

Sounds good.

Been there since 2003.

They seem to plan ahead.

/sarcasm

[tr88]

04:30 PM on 11/24/2010

They are so crafty arent they?

[cloaca]

02:55 PM on 11/24/2010

If we lowered the age of consent to 16 and legalized prostitution we would seem a 50% drop in congressional ethics violations, then lawmakers could legitimately argue that they are cleaning up DC, it would be a new day in America.

[trojoe]

02:51 PM on 11/24/2010

How old was the minor?

[NYCBri]

03:10 PM on 11/24/2010

There was no minor. There was only the police pretending to be a minor. You can look up the charges at the courthouse and read the charges. They will list the age the police pretended to be.

[SoccerNana]

01:50 PM on 11/24/2010

Good, another pervert bites the dust.

[QuietNetworker]

02:48 PM on 11/24/2010

This post is a violation of the TOS for this site as it " celebrates the death or misery of another "

[tr88]

04:30 PM on 11/24/2010

Pervs dont count.

[tb91006]

01:50 PM on 11/24/2010

Man whats up with these perverted democrats. Maybe he was a friend of the last pervert Eric Massa or maybe Spitzer or maybe the face of the democrats Bubba Clinton.

[proudloudlib]

02:29 PM on 11/24/2010

Selective memory.

[Olethea]

02:54 PM on 11/24/2010

Tap tap tap.

Remember what that is? Yeah, you do.

[ecrichert12]

01:19 PM on 11/24/2010

Why is his picture blacked out? Has HP previously they blacked out the pictures of republicans charged with crimes?

[QuietNetworker]

02:48 PM on 11/24/2010

No, it's a stock photo like most of their photos.

Do you think the picture of the " handcuffs" on the front page for the " networking " expect caught in the insider trading probe is a pic of his hands :) LOL

[ecrichert12]

03:08 PM on 11/24/2010

Perhaps, but a 5 second google search brings you to a picture of him on the Washington Examiner, so it wouldn't have been that hard to do their homework. The skeptic in me says that if this was a Boehner or McConnell staffer they'd have a picture of the guy making a weird face because he was in the middle of a sentence.