Barney Frank, a Democratic Congressman representing Massachusetts for nearly 30 years and the first openly gay member of the House, almost undid his career in 1989 after paying a male prostitute, Steve Gobie, for sex. Frank also hired Gobie to run errands and allowed him to live at his home. The Congressman said he'd hoped that Gobie would change his ways; instead, Gobie continued working as a prostitute — from Frank's home.
The lawmaker maintained that he had no knowledge that his digs were being used as a brothel. A 10-month probe found that to be true but ordered that Frank be reprimanded for misuse of House privilege in waiving 33 of Gobie's parking tickets and for writing a memo that attempted to end Gobie's probation for a prior infraction. He's since gone on to win several re-elections by wide margins.