Top 10 Republican sex scandals of the decade (photos)

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http://www.examiner.com/x-22698-Celebrity-Politics-Examiner~y2009m12d28-Top-10-Republican-sex-scandals-of-the-decade

Since Viagra was patented in 1996, sex scandals among politicians have been on the rise -- especially among Republicans, who ironically cast themselves as the "family values" party. Among politicians caught with their pants down, the GOP outnumbers Democrats 3 to 1, by most counts.

Don't get us wrong. Democrats have committed some doozies during the poast 10 years. Former presidential hopeful John Edwards of North Carolina is one of the worst offenders. He had an affair and allegedly fathered a child with a campaign staffer while his wife was deathly ill with cancer.

But in terms of sheer volume, Republicans win the sex scandal race of the decade by a landslide. Here are our top 10 picks, by year:

2002: Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, became an international hero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but he was a goat to his wife, Donna Hanover, because his mistress, Judith Nathan, was by his side for every photo op. Their affair had been splashed all over the tabloids the year before, so the mayor just admitted it and carried on as though he weren't married. Senior city officials said Guiliani provided a city car for Nathan's private use and allowed her to use a police driver as her personal chauffeur. Giuliani and Nathan are now married.

2004: Jack Ryan dropped out of the Illinois senate race against Barack Obama after divorce papers surfaced in which his ex-wife, Jeri Ryan, complained that he took her to sex clubs and tried to force her to have sex with him in front of other patrons. He blamed the media, but he was not even close to Obama in the polls, even before the sex scandal erupted.

2005: Don Sherwood (R-Pa.) was forced to admit to a five-year affair with Cynthia Ore after a Consitutiion Party opponent released a 2004 police report in which the congressman was accused of choking his mistress at his Washington D.C. apartment. In 2006, Sherwood lost his seat to Chris Carney, the first Democrat to represent the 10th district since 1960.

2006: Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who introduced a bill to outlaw web sites featuring sexually suggestive images of preteen children, was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children when he was caught sending sexuality explicit messages and emails to underage male pages. He was forced to resign and later came out as gay. He is now selling real estate.