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Sunday, 28 July 2013
Days after Anthony Weiner admitted to lewd chats with women online, his campaign manager quit, Weiner and his campaign said Sunday.
Danny Kedem's departure
is the latest sign Weiner's New York City mayoral bid is struggling amid
allegations of online sexual impropriety. After the chats and
photographs became public Tuesday, a poll showed him dropping to second place among Democratic candidates for mayor and his favorable numbers plummeting.
"Danny has left the campaign," Weiner told CNN affiliate NY1. "He did a remarkable job."
Praising the "excellent
staff" remaining in his organization, Weiner said more volunteers had
flocked to his bid in the last few days than at any point since his
campaign began.
"This isn't about the people working on the campaign, it's about the people that we're working for," he said.
Kedem, a
31-year-old operative who previously worked for the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee, declined comment in an e-mail to CNN.
Weiner first acknowledged
Tuesday that he did not stop sending raunchy online chats to women when
he left Congress in 2011. That resignation was prompted by allegations
from several women that Weiner had sent them lewd photographs of
himself.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, the Democrat said he couldn't say for sure how many more women might come forward.
"There are a few. I don't have a specific number for you," Weiner said.
Pressed to provide a
guess as to how many online relationships occurred after his
resignation, Weiner said, "I don't believe I had any more than three."
He has resisted calls
from his rivals to withdraw from the mayor's race, saying the decision
of whether he's trustworthy enough for the job should be up to voters.
His chief rival for the
Democratic nomination, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, stopped
short of calling for his withdrawal from the mayor's race Sunday but
lambasted his actions as generating further distrust in government.
"I think it's become
very clear that former Congress member Weiner has a pattern of reckless
behavior, an inability to tell the truth and a real lack of maturity and
responsibility," Quinn said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't think
he should be mayor, and I think voters, if he stays in the race, will
make that very clear."
On Friday, Weiner indicated he may stop answering questions altogether about his online relationships.
"There's going to reach a
point fairly soon that I'm going to say I think I've said enough about
it, and I'm going to keep just talking about other things," he told
reporters on Staten Island.
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