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Here are a few simple guidelines aspiring politicians should follow regarding sexting:
- Don't sext with people you don't know.
- If you do sext, don't sext with someone famously at the center of a political sexting scandal.
- If you do decide to sext with that person anyway, definitely don't buy that person gifts and leave your name on the receipts.
Unfortunately for Indiana state Rep. Justin Moed (D), he failed to follow all three of these rules, deciding instead to start sexting Sydney Leathers — of Anthony Weiner sext scandal fame — and then accidentally revealing his name to her on gift receipts.
Leathers promptly told the New York Post's Page Six that she was sexting a Midwestern lawmaker. Moed, who is engaged, soon admitted it was him, and said he was "truly sorry I have hurt the ones I love most with my poor judgment," according to the Indianapolis Star's Tom LoBianco.
Who is Sydney Leathers, again? If you've (justifiably) blocked Weiner's sext scandals from your mind, recall that there were two separate ones, and Leathers was at the center of the second. The first scandal was sparked by a photo Weiner accidentally posted on Twitter, and ended up forcing him out of Congress in 2011.
The second — Weiner's sexting relationship with Leathers, under the pseudonym "Carlos Danger" — broke during Weiner's attempted comeback as a candidate for mayor of New York City in 2013, revealing that he had not, in fact, given up his habit of sexting with random women.
As for Moed, Leathers told the Post, "Is he displaying poor judgment by sexting me of all people? Obviously. But should sexual situations define politicians? They are human, after all."