Pat Meehan is gone - but not forgotten.
In a statement announcing he was resigning his seat immediately Friday, the four-term incumbent Congressman spelled out some of his regrets for the way his time in Congress ended, while also noting the accomplishments he's proud of achieving.
Meehan's exit cuts off an Ethics Committee probe into his use of taxpayer funds to settle a sex harassment complaint filed by a former staffer who said Meehan created a hostile environment after she spurned his advances.
Meehan has denied there was any romantic intent and noted that he considered the woman, decades his junior, his "soul mate" and a key part of "Team Meehan."
But while the Republican is no longer a member of Congress, and the 7th District is about to go away, replaced by the newly constructed 5th District, put in place by the state Supreme Court after the old congressional districts were ruled an unconstitutional gerrymander, it's hardly going to be forgotten.
That's because the state Constitution mandates the governor now order a special election to fill Meehan's seat.
Yes, the very same seat that is going away. Unfortunately, the seat will not go away until January, and someone has to sit in it now.
Gov. Tom Wolf has 10 days to set the date for the special election. But he cannot schedule it for at least 60 days, which means it will not be possible to hold it on Primary Day on May 15.
It could be scheduled to coincide with the general election in November, but that also is fraught with problems, not the least of which is the fact that it would leave the seat vacant for months.
But here's the real dilemma.
Voters in the 7th and 5th Districts may end up going to the polls and voting in two different races, one in the 5th and one in the 7th.
Remember, the 7th District is that bizarre "Goofy Kicking Donald Duck" design touching on five different suburban counties that kicked off the legal challenge to the redistricting process in the first place. The special election would be for the 7th District, formed back in 2017. Not everyone who would vote for the 7th would be eligible to vote in the 5th, and vice versa. The new 5th includes all of Delaware County, plus a sliver of Montco along the Main Line and some of South and Southwest Philly. Yeah, it's a mess.
Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to wait and see who wins the two parties nominations in the Primary, then perhaps allow them to run in the special election to fill out the final months of the 7th District.
But there's a problem with that as well. Not everyone who is running in the 5th District race is a resident of the newly constructed 5th District.
And if there is a special election held before the general election in November, it means the state likely will spend millions on a race to elect a person who will fill that seat for just a few months.
All of which makes you wonder why Meehan did not make the decision to step down when this story first exploded back in January, when he announced he would not seek re-election.
Now that we have is a mess, one that no doubt will thoroughly confuse voters, and simply turn that many more people off to the whole process in general.
The floor is all yours, governor.
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