Vice Chair Of Massachusetts Republican Party Resigns

The vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party is stepping down.

The Boston Globe reports Tom Mountain notified state committee members on Sunday that he's resigning his position because of a “scurrilous and demeaning” blog post.

Mountain did not name the website but said he was leaving as the party's second-in-command “immediately to focus on an effort to clear my name.”

He said in his resignation letter that he believes he is “the victim of a crime” and has retained legal counsel.

The state GOP was planning to meet Monday to discuss allegations involving Mountain, the Globe reports.

It comes after Gov. Charlie Baker and other prominent state Republicans publicly rebuked state committeewoman Deborah Martell for saying in an email that she was “sickened” that a gay Republican congressional candidate had adopted two children with his partner.

Jim Lyons, the state party chairman, refused to sanction Martell, but Mountain was was among those who said she should resign.

“It has been my honor to serve as MassGOP Vice Chair,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “I hope others follow this example by ALWAYS doing what’s right for our Party even when those decisions require personal sacrifice.”