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- NATION, Page 41American NotesCONGRESSDangerous Liaison
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- Though tales of libidinous mischief on Capitol Hill are not
- exactly rare, the allegations that surfaced last week about the
- sexual conduct of an Ohio Congressman came as something of a shock.
- In a conversation secretly videotaped by a Columbus television
- station last November, Republican Donald Lukens talked with Anna
- Coffman, an unemployed widow, in a fast-food restaurant about his
- relationship with the woman's daughter, now 17. "I couldn't
- understand a man in your position, why you're messin' around with
- these teenagers," said Coffman. Replied Lukens, who turns 58 this
- week: "I didn't really know she was a teenager. I do now, of
- course."
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- Coffman's daughter told the station that Lukens had twice paid
- her for sex: in 1985, when she was 13, and again last year. In his
- videotaped chat with the mother, Lukens seemed to suggest that he
- might arrange a Government job for her. Though the FBI says there
- is no evidence that the lawmaker was offering Coffman a bribe in
- exchange for her silence, the Franklin County prosecutor is
- considering whether to file criminal charges against the
- Congressman. Lukens, who has been divorced since 1983, refused to
- comment.