In the wake of Florida Congressman Mark Foley's resignation in disgrace for predatory acts toward teenage boys, there have been daily revelations concerning additional disgusting acts perpetrated by the former congressman. There have also been daily disclosures of the prior knowledge and culpability of growing numbers of Republican congressmen including members of the Republican congressional leadership.
At the top, on Thursday, Oct 5, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert went on the offensive, calling a news conference and vowing defiantly that he would not resign as a result of his role in the scandal. As reported on October 6th by Jeff Zeleny of the NY Times, "he made it clear that he did not intend to become a casualty of the Mark Foley scandal, saying he expected to win re-election to his seat and run for speaker again when the new Congress convenes in January."
Hastert has maintained that he only recently, meaning in the last two weeks, learned of the problems with Mark Foley's behavior. However, interspersed with various other new information coming out daily regarding the scandal, new information arrives citing much earlier dates on which people say they informed Hastert about Foley's activities. For instance:
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) both indicate they spoke with Hastert about Foley's problems this past spring.
According to an article in today's Washington Post by Jonathan Weisman, Foley's one time Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham said he appealed to Hastert's current Chief of Staff, Scott Palmer back in 2003 or before to get Hastert to deal with Foley's behavior after Fordham said he had confronted Foley and failed to achieve any results.
According to Weisman's article "Fordham said Foley and Palmer, one of the most powerful figures in the House of Representatives, met within days to discuss the allegations . . . Palmer said this week that the meeting Fordham described "did not happen." Timothy J. Heaphy, Fordham's attorney, said yesterday that Fordham is prepared to testify under oath that he had arranged the meeting and that both Foley and Palmer told him the meeting had taken place. Fordham spent more than three hours with the FBI on Thursday, and Heaphy said that on Friday he contacted the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to offer his client's cooperation."
Who Should Resign
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) At a minimum, according to other Republican congressmen, Speaker Hastert knew of the issues with Rep. Mark Foley ten months before the scandal came to the public's attention. His office was involved with Foley's problems at least as far back as 2003. It is hard to believe that Speaker Hastert's 'office' and 'staff' did not keep the speaker apprised of what was happening. As this is not a small matter, I believe his aides informed the Speaker and that Speaker Hastert has known about Foley's issues for years and protected him out of friendship and to protect a Republican seat instead of protecting the vulnerable and teenaged pages.
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) By his own admission, Majority Leader Boehner has known about Foley's problems for approximately half a year. At the least he did not take strong enough actions and did not appropriately follow-up on actions he took.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) As with Rep. Boehner, Chairman Reynolds has known about Congressman Foley's activities and did not do enough to protect the pages. Rep. Reynolds launched a television ad campaign apologizing to NY voters and trying to prevent the issue from impacting his reelection.
Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) Head of the House Page Board Hastert says 'his office' sent Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy. As head of the house page board, it was Rep. Shimkus responsibility to intervene in any issues where members of the House were mistreating pages. Rep. Shimkus should have followed up and made sure any issues were resolved and kept Hastert's office informed. We do not know if he did the latter, but as to the former, we can see he failed in his duties miserably.
As I indicated at the beginning of this article, every day since this scandal broke, more information has come out. I do not believe my list of those who should resign is complete. As we get more information, it seems to me that we will learn of more Republican congressmen and more of the House Republican Leadership that have known about Foley's problems and did not take appropriate action thus allowing Foley's activities to continue. All of those who fall into this category should resign. Nor is this the only problem confronting Republicans this election cycle. The combined weight of the Foley scandal, the Abramoff Scandal, failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and a general impression that Republicans have abused their time in control of congress (not to mention the rest of the government) will likely mean the end of this era of Republican Majority.
Steven Leser specializes in Politics, Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within county organizations.
Steven Leser writes for www.opednews.com, an internet only media site that has grown to become one of the highest traffic news sites in America, reaching more traffic, according to alexa.com, than all but the thirty largest daily newspapers in the US. Mr. Leser is one of the 500+ liberal pundits who, each month, are published in what has become one of the top five Liberal/progressive media sites in the US.
Dennis Hastert is a liar. I am so tired of hearing the ever popular, trite and overused excuse, "I don't recall." I heard it during the arms for hostages investigation. Ronny Ray-Gun used it the way some gangsters use the Fifth Amendment. Condi Rice uses it when confronted with the fact that she received numerous briefings on the security threat posed by Al Quaeda. And now Fat Bastard Hastert is using it.
I only believed Ray-Gun because it was obvious he was already in the throes of Alzheimer's. I don't buy it from Condi, and I definitely don't buy it from Hastert. I don't recall...yeah, and I am one of the pages Foley was one-handed typing with on AOL.
Which brings up another issue which even I hadn't thought of. I was watching my main man, Bill Maher on his show, Real Time With Bill Maher, and he made an excellent point. Why didn't the guys who went nowhere with Hastert go to the police? If, as some as yet unconfirmed reports are saying, Foley was up to his tricks from day one of entering congress, that's eleven years worth of abuse. I would think it would have become clear after six months that he was up to something, yet no one who had knowledge went to the cops.
Why is that? Well, in my opinion, the Republicans were more concerned with maintaining their appearance than they were with protecting kids; you know, all that family values sort of shit they are always banging the drum about in the news. To me, it's almost like their family values garbage is just a way to get the Religious Reich on their side. They don't mean it, and this debacle proves it.
So whose heads do I think deserve a place on the chopping block? Well, obviously Fat Hastert. I simply don't buy his selective amnesia one bit. All his underlings who saw that he wasn't lifting one fat finger on his hand to stop the goings on. All the congressmen who knew, and reported it to Fat Hastert, but didn't follow up by going to the police. Anyone who had ANY knowledge, yet allowed Foley to do his on line diddling.
By anyone, I mean anyone. If Dick(LESS) Cheney knew, kick his sorry ass out. That goes double for DUBYA, the man who called Fat Hastert and gave him a vote of confidence. Any Democrats who knew but kept quiet. Anyone that had any knowledge, yet didn't take it to the police. Get rid of the whole stinking lot of them.
Once that's done, then perhaps we can start investigating the Abramoff scandal, the outing of Valerie Plame, voter fraud via Diebold machines, FEMA's wretched response to Hurricane Katrina, and all of the other bullshit this administration and congress have allowed. Then maybe we can even investigate the true sources of bad intelligence that lead to the Iraq War, and whether or not there is fire associated with the smoke over possible conspiracy before or after the 9/11 attacks.
There is a mountain of garbage that has been growing since DUBYA stole the White House in 2000. It's long past time that we started digging through it to find out just how vast it is and how deep it goes. I have said on numerous times in various articles and comments on this issue that I believe Foleygate will be the scandal that breaks the congressional investigation logjam. At long last, and by all appearances, this is the one that's going to stick.
So let's not let up on our end. Too many times, we have allowed ourselves to be sidetracked by other issues. Keep the pressure on. Keep writing here and other places about the festering stinkhole this debacle has finally opened to offend all nostrils.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 4:23:55 AM
If the leaders & many GOPers of the party of Foley protected him to keep his safe FL seat, & they knew he was gay & this teen page attraction before 2000, 2002,2004 would not this be some kind of criminal activity by a voting standard?
I mean if the Xian base & the Democrats had know he was luring page teen boys into internet sexplay, wouldn't that have made a good campaign edge for that 537 close vote in FL? or those mixed up DIEBOLD machines & clogged up phones in OHIO in 2004?
I think this goes so much deeper than internet teen sex & a closet case groper-goper & those who helped enable him to hide it from the world. Just being a GAY man leading in GAY BASHING would be the death of his FL seat!!!
I believe it was to keep control of the Bush Adminisration & to win both elections as both were so close !
REmember, AL GORE WON THE POPULAR VOTE & the Supreme Court stopped the counting of the Votes in Fl for it would hurt Bush, so they selected Bush as resident and took all our votes who live in other states & tossed them in the trash!
I wonder how they will wiggle out of this one? will the media find the one poll that will allow some very slim margin to allow some form of voting fraud to take place to allow the GOP to maintain the house & Senate? I can't see it, but
I never thought I would see a member of congress email teen boys sexual suggestive messages either.
my advice to all Democrats who are in tight races .. don't fly anywhere! Don't drink or eat food from people you do not know. watch your back, keep your car where you can see it at all times.. and make sure you know where your children are. get alarm systems for cars/homes/offices
Keith Oberman was sent a white powder in the mail, meant to be Anthrax.. he has also received death threats.. we have people in this country that will take up arms against us who are democrats & liberals or just moderates. so be very careful and never let your guard down, when these kind of people are backed into a corner, they are like tigers.. they will fight to the death.
we are nothing to them, if you don't believe me, just listen to any of the right wing talk shows or c-span Washington Journal call-in programs on the bush-only line or gop line.. WOW...they are calling for the heads of the liberals..
Foley did it
but it is our fault
just as when a woman is raped, it was because of the way she was dressed or wore her hair...
chil420
by
chil420 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 4:01:07 PM
Mandatory- the second change brought because of VultureTX
Wow nice witch hunt there and predictably partisan.
Since multiple pages have stated that Foley's behavior was an "open secret" in the House, why is it there were no democrats who came forth to protect the pages? Could it be like the FBI said ; it failed to rise to the level of criminal activity.
/Sure Foley should be dealt with. No Question
// To the confused commenterx who said GWB was selected, then if so it was by Al Gore since he refused to question the electoral college results. SCOTUS was right in their actions, and thus Gore conceded.
by
Vulture (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 153 comments)
on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 4:40:57 PM
I agree if it was an "open secret", then the Democrats who got wind of the goings on should have brought it to the attention of police or the FBI years ago. As I have said in my numerous articles and comments on this issue, everyone who had any knowledge of Foley's actions, yet did nothing about it should pay with the loss of their congressional seats. I don't care about party affiliation. If they knew and did nothing, they are as culpable as Foley.
This is about an ongoing and KNOWN criminal act perpetrated by a "respected" member of congress. It is also about who knew what when, and what was done to bring a stop to the crime(s).
However, to say, Could it be like the FBI said ; it failed to rise to the level of criminal activity. is a silly argument. It ignores the fact that according to the laws enacted directly by the action of Foley himself, inticement to commit acts of pedophilia via the internet IS A CRIME!
What Foley did was criminal by virtue of his own laws. What Fat Hastert did was equally as criminal for the sheer fact that he effectively allowed it to continue by his silence. What the others did that had direct knowledge is also criminal because they didn't go to law enforcement authorities when it was clear that Fat Hastert was going to sit on his ass with his thumb firmly planted up said ass.
Anyone who failed to take this crime outside the circle of the "good old boys" network of congress is just as complicit, no matter what their party affiliation. Those who preach their high-minded morality when it serves their own selfish needs, yet remained silent on this issue having prior knowledge are, in my opinion, the first ones who should say, "bye-bye" to their seats.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Monday, October 9, 2006 at 1:14:54 PM
