FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE DISMISSING CLAIMS OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT BY SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, A REMINDER: Congressman Accused of Harassment Resigns.

Representative Eric J. Massa, a freshman Democrat from upstate New York who is under investigation for harassing a male aide, said on Friday that he would resign from the House.

Mr. Massa was reported to the House ethics committee last month after a member of his Congressional staff accused him of harassment, according to a senior Congressional official who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Mr. Massa, who represents New York’s 29th District, abandoned his re-election campaign on Wednesday, after the accusation became public, saying then that he would retire at the end of his term. . . .

His travails had posed the latest ethical distraction for House Democrats as they try to push through a health care bill and prepare for what will be challenging midterm elections this fall.

On Wednesday, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, relinquished his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee after he was admonished by the House ethics committee for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean.

Along with the calls for Gov. David A. Paterson’s resignation as he faces investigation over a domestic violence episode involving a top aide and an inquiry concerning the solicitation of tickets to the World Series, the Democratic Party has become vulnerable to the same criticism about a culture of corruption that Democrats used against Republicans to win control of Congress in 2006.

But they’ll circle the wagons around Klobuchar because (1) she’s a woman; and (2) they want her to be viable for 2020.