the congressman’s constituents have shown an outpouring of sympathy for a woman caught in the middle of New York’s most recent scandal.
After accidently sending a lewd photo of himself to a Twitter follower,
The scandal took another turn Wednesday afternoon when it was revealed in a New York Times blog post that Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is pregnant with the couple’s first child.
Baysider Frank Skala said he can't understand why Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, would stay with him. "If she stays with him, she’s doing what Hillary Clinton did," Skala, a member of CB 11 said.
"She has enough money that she can literally take him to the cleaners," Skala said, adding, "But maybe love conquers all."
"I do feel bad for him," said Bayside activist Tom Meara, adding, obviously he’s made some mistakes."
"I can only imagine what she must be going through! She must be devastated,” said Ellen Weiss, a Weiner constituent from Forest Hills. “You know when you get married, you think ‘here's the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with,’ then to find out and in such a public way that your husband is at the very least looking at other women, it’s terrible, believe me I know...and now she's pregnant, it's very sad."
Doug Stevens, another Weiner constituent of Forest Hills, empathized with Abedin, saying he would advise her to leave the congressman.
"There's no excuse for what he did...baby or not, if she were my daughter I would tell her to leave him — the guy's no good,” he said. “If this is what he's doing 10 months into their marriage, and this is only what we know about, there's no telling what else he's been up to."
"She'd be crazy to stay with him, kid or not. Cut your losses and leave before there's more children involved," Stevens added.
Liz Braum, another Forest Hills resident, said she thought the couple should try to keep their marriage together, as Weiner has said they planned to.
"Marriage can be difficult, and it gets even more complicated once children are involved, but it's not as if he was caught in bed with another woman,” Braum said.
“Was this immature? Yes. And she has every reason to be mad, let's face it, it's embarrassing, but I don't think that what he has done is really something to divorce him over," he said. "I'm hoping she stays. I really do hope they work things out."
Weiner constituent Angela Marvin was shocked by the news, breaking in the midst of an already shocking story.
“Oh wow, that's just so sad,” Marvin said. “She should take some time to really figure out what's best for her and that baby."
Throughout the scandal, Weiner’s popularity in the district has remained remarkably resilient, with many residents saying they believe that Weiner should remain in office, despite the growing chorus of outsiders insisting he resign.
Katherine Yi, a Forest Hills resident, said she didn't believe Weiner had committed an impeachable offense.
"I’m not really sure how resigning is really going to solve anything between the two of them ... It might actually be a good thing if he gave her a little space right now and just threw himself into work," Yi said.
"A little time apart might do the two of them a little good. Besides that, if everyone quit their job when they were caught having an affair or whatever he’s being accused of, nothing would ever get accomplished, especially in Washington,” she added.
Not everyone agreed that Weiner should keep his job.
"He’s got to resign. There’s no way he can effectively do his job now, or be taken seriously by his colleagues or constituents any more," said resident Joe Volpe. "For the good of the city, Weiner needs to go. I mean have some self respect, you’re going to be a dad soon.”
Editor's Note: This story was first published on June 8, and updated at 11:44a.m. on June 9 with local reaction from Bayside.
