Montenegro’s e-pal is made into a victim

There is something altogether tragic about the Steve Montenegro scandal.

Oh, I’ll cry no tears for the congressional candidate, whose campaign has been upended in the race’s final days.

Playing the role of a conservative Christian family man (and minister, no less) by day, while playing digital footsie by night with a low-level legislative staffer?

The only word that comes to mind is “hypocrite.”

And I won’t be terribly upset if the ex-boyfriend discovers that there are consequences to hijacking private correspondence between two consenting adults — regardless of his motives for doing so.

The one I feel sorry for is the woman who has been outed. A woman who was stupid, certainly, and classless, absolutely. You don’t send naked pictures of yourself to a state senator who has a wife and a young child.

You just don’t.

But here’s the thing. Stephanie Holford never complained that Montenegro was harassing her or that she felt forced to engage in their “e-ffair.” This wasn’t a moment of #metoo. She wasn’t a victim — not until her private life was dragged into the harsh light of day.

Not until the media outed her and Montenegro tried to play the role of innocent bystander, telling the Washington Examiner that she sent him a topless photo of herself unsolicited and that he immediately told his wife.

Anybody buying that? More likely, it happened just as Holford said.

“Over the months, we began to flirt. I felt comfortable enough with the relationship that I began to send pictures of myself in various states of undress,” she said in a statement read Thursday by her attorney, Tom Ryan. “Senator Montenegro asked me to send them on Snapchat instead. We engaged in sexual conversation about these pictures. These conversations were detailed and intimate.”

And consensual. Something she will have to live with, as the internet has a long memory.

Meanwhile, Montenegro could very well be headed to Washington.

“I am confident the voters will see through these deplorable pack of lies thrown out by a liberal attorney with a clear agenda of attacking conservatives,” he said in a statement.

Most of the ballots in Tuesday’s Republican primary had already been cast by the time his electronic flirtations hit the public eye. Besides, this is a district that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, even as 11 women complained of sexual misconduct.

A district in which Trent Franks, R“I’ll Pay You $5 Million to Have My Baby,” could likely be re-elected had he stuck it out.

Character matters. But a lot can be excused if your politics are right.

Unfortunately for Holford, she’s not a politician.