N.J GOP Mayor, Caught With His Pants Down, Denies Rentboy Took Photos

Steve Weinstein READ TIME: 2 MIN.

Another day, another GOP politician caught taking a walk over to the man-loving, pay-for-gay side. (But not, it should be noted, a self-touting "family values" guy.)

Chris Myers, the mayor of Philadelphia suburb Medford, N.J., is denying that the photos of a man in glasses lolling contentedly in a bed are of him. In the photo, nothing separates Myers from a state of nature than a pair of very tight sky blue Calvin Klein underwear. Wonkette calls it the "old 'probably it was some guy who broke into my hotel room and took pictures of me sleeping in my underwear' excuse." The photos also just happen to include Myers' IDs and his cell phone number.

The photos first appeared on a website (since frozen, if you try the link) that the rentboy started after the married of father of two allegedly reneged on a promise to buy the love-for-sale hottie a car. ("Note to rentboy: 'politician' is the top thesaurus-listed antonym for 'promise keeper," Wonkette admonished.)

Myers, it should be noted, is a Republican, but has never run an anti-gay platform. He was in favor of the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

The website PhillyBurbs.com broke the story after the rentboy contacted news organizations. The California rentboy claims Myers paid him $500 after an early-morning bout in a Newport Beach, Calif., hotel room in October 2010. The man refused to identify himself.

"This is absolutely crazy. I have no idea who this person is," Myers said. "Obviously, we're dealing with a crackpot and someone who is pissed off at me in some way. There are crazy people."

But the rentboy said Myers identified himself as the mayor of a New Jersey town and offered his township ID and Gold Shield ID as proof. Meyers is serving a third term and has run for Congress on the GOP ticket.

Myers' attorney, Hersh Kozlov of Duane Morris in nearby Cherry Hill, N.J., said Myers denies it's him and called it an "irresponsible act by an unknown person" and "defamatory speech."

The genesis of the story, according to Phillyburbs, is as follows: The Burlington County Times, part of the site, received an email of the photos on Oct. 7 by "dirtychrismyers." The paper decided at that time not to pursue the story. In short order, the paper received two more emails with more allegations and a narrative of events. The rentboy apparently gave the paper an explicit description of the alleged encounter, which the paper, sadly, declined to recount.

When the rentboy finally gave the paper personal phone numbers, the paper decided to run with the story.


by Steve Weinstein

Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early '80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).

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