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once again, the right is more concerned about the leak and not the act.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...an_Resigns.php
House Leader of U.S. House defends handling of scandal involving congressman, young former page
WASHINGTON Rep. Dennis Hastert, the man in charge of the House of Representatives, is defending his office's handling of questions raised about Rep. Mark Foley last year, saying the parents of a male former page were bothered by an e-mail Foley sent their son but did not want the matter pursued.
Hastert said neither he nor other Republican leaders were aware until last Friday of far more lurid computer exchanges two years earlier between the Florida Republican and another page.
Hastert acknowledged that Foley's 2005 e-mail to a Louisiana boy seeking a photograph raised a "red flag" with the Louisiana congressman who had sponsored the page but said his staff aides and Rep. John Shimkus, who chairs a board of House members to oversee the page program, did not know the contents.
Rep. Tom Reynolds, the House Republican campaign chairman, said he told Hastert in the spring of this year about the questionable e-mail. Hastert says he does not recall the conversation but does not dispute Reynolds' account.
Shimkus, who appeared with Hastert before reporters Monday, said new measures would be implemented to keep pages safe, including a toll-free hot line for pages, former pages and their families to confidentially report any incidents.
Democrats protested that such decisions should be made by the bipartisan page board.
"Once again, the House Republican leadership is following the same pattern of unilateral decision-making that caused this problem in the first place," said Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, longtime Democratic member of the board.
The congressional page program has traditionally been a starting point for young people interested in making a career of politics.
Similar to interns, pages are 11th-grade pupils from across the country who spend a year in Washington working for House members training for possible political careers later. The pages must be at least 16 years old.
Foley, 52, checked into an alcohol rehabilitation center during the weekend, his attorney, David Roth said Monday. In a statement, Foley said, "I strongly believe that I'm an alcoholic and have accepted the need for immediate treatment for alcoholism and other behavioral problems."
Roth told CNN that his client is "absolutely positively not a pedophile" and "has never ever had an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life."
Florida Republicans chose a member of the state Legislature, Rep. Joe Negron, to replace Foley as the party's candidate for the state's 16th congressional district.
Hastert's media offensive came as the exploding scandal entered its fourth day, souring the outlook for Republicans in the November elections and raising questions about the judgment of senior House officials who handled the controversy. Republican leaders scheduled a late-afternoon conference call on the matter with rank-and-file Republicans.
Shimkus and the House clerk called Foley last fall and told him to cut off all communication with the former page. Only after ABC News reported the 2005 e-mail late last week did the more lurid material surface, as pages forwarded further messages to ABC.
The network reported instant messages between Foley and a teenager from California, who suggested he was uncomfortable in an exchange discussing dinner plans for when the boy was to come to Washington.
"and then what happens," Foley messaged at one point.
"I have the feeling that you are fishing here ... im not sure what I would be comfortable with ... well see," the teen replied.
Democrats hammered at Republican leaders' handling of the Foley subject as an internal party matter instead of bringing it to the attention of the page board or the House Ethics Committee.
"Republican Leaders admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley's abhorrent behavior for six months to a year and failed to protect the children in their trust," said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. "Republican Leaders must be investigated by the Ethics Committee and immediately questioned under oath."
The FBI has begun an inquiry into Foley's computer contact with pages, and Hastert wrote a letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asking for an investigation into whether state laws were broken.
Meanwhile, Florida newspapers — who were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year — defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News.
"Our decision at the time was ... that because the language was not sexually explicit and was subject to interpretation, from innocuous to 'sick,' as the page characterized it, to be cautious," said Tom Fiedler, executive editor of the Herald. "Given the potentially devastating impact that a false suggestion of pedophilia could have on anyone, not to mention a congressman known to be gay, and lacking any corroborating information, we chose not to do a story."
Hastert called on any person who was aware of the 2003 instant messages to speak to law enforcement authorities. He said no Republican leader in Congress was aware of those exchanges until Friday, when ABC News reported it had questioned Foley about them.
A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said it had obtained copies of Foley's e-mails to the 16-year-old former page in late July and immediately gave them to the FBI.
"They (the e-mails) should have raised a red flag over at the FBI," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director and a former prosecutor specializing in sex crimes. The group on Monday asked the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate why Foley's e-mails were not pursued.
Asked about the preliminary inquiry under way at the FBI into Foley's actions, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told reporters Monday afternoon, "We're just beginning to look at it right now. I haven't received a report."
There currently are 72 House pages, 48 selected by Republicans and 24 by Democrats, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. The Senate breakdown is 30 pages, 18 chosen by Republicans and 12 by Democrats.
He said that Foley has entered an alcoholism treatment center and accepts responsibility for his actions
Oh boy sean whhhaaaaannity wants to know who had the emails, when they had them, and why release them now.. hey sean go down the hall and ask why Fox News held these emails?
once again, the right is more concerned about the leak and not the act.
holeee sheeet, who DIDN'T have Foley's emails!!
Then we have a Foley's lawyer yesterday saying Foley ISN'T a gay pedophile predator.
Certainly another Repug lawyer like Puto Gonzalez for whom black is white, up is down.
And the Repugs and conservatives and right-wing-nut red-state rabble were convulsed by consensual sex between heterosexual adults?
holeee sheeet, who DIDN'T have Foley's emails!!
Then we have a Foley's lawyer yesterday saying Foley ISN'T a gay pedophile predator.
Certainly another Repug lawyer like Puto Gonzalez for whom black is white, up is down.
And the Repugs and conservatives and right-wing-nut red-state rabble were convulsed by consensual sex between heterosexual adults?
now I do think this is funny..I keep saying it over and over in my head..
Yes, and now the other shoe in the vast left-wing conspiracy has dropped. That pinko propoganda paper, the Washington Times is fulfilling its moonbat destiny by running this editorial:
Resign, Mr. Speaker.
Look at this shameless liberal claptrap:
House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it? Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.
Those socialist paperhangers at the Times know no shame.
That damn liberal media!!
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