Aide Confirms to Ethics Committee He Reported Foley Abuse to Hastert

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee yesterday questioned the top aide in a Louisiana congressman’s office, where a chain of events began that raised questions about Republican handling of Rep. Mark Foley’s approaches to male pages.Royal Alexander, who is chief of staff to Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Republican of Louisiana, testified in closed session.The two are not related.Rep. Alexander’s office last fall complained to House speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert’s staff about Mr. Foley’s overly friendly — but not sexually explicit — e-mails to a former Louisiana teenage page the congressman had sponsored.Royal Alexander said outside the ethics committee, “We’ve done what we should from the very beginning. I’m proud of our office and proud of our page.”Rodney Alexander has said the former page contacted his office last fall, saying Mr. Foley had asked about the teenager’s age, then 16, and his birthday. Mr. Foley also requested a photo.Mr. Foley resigned his seat September 29 after he was confronted with more sexually explicit instant messages to other former pages.According to previous statements, Royal Alexander contacted aides to Mr. Hastert last fall about the Louisiana page. This timeline has triggered a major discrepancy, because Mr. Hastert has said that was the first time his staff heard about Mr. Foley’s contacts. Mr. Foley’s former chief of staff said he first contacted Mr. Hastert’s top aide in 2002 or 2003.Royal Alexander last fall didn’t actually show the messages to Mr. Hastert’s staff members, but described them and said the boy’s parents wanted the contacts to stop. Mr. Hastert’s staff then contacted the House clerk at the time, Jeff Trandahl, and Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican of Illinois.Both met with Mr. Foley to ask he stop all contact with the teenager.Mr. Shimkus is chairman of the House Page Board, consisting of three lawmakers, the clerk and the sergeant at arms. The board oversees the page program, which allows high school students to attend a congressional school while working as messengers for Congress.Mr. Foley assured the two he was only acting as a mentor, and agreed to Mr. Shimkus’s demand that he cease contact with the youngster.Mr. Shimkus, who testified last week before the ethics panel, said he never informed the other lawmakers on the Page Board, citing the wishes of the parents to stop the contact and not pursue the matter.Last spring, Rep.Alexander has said, he mentioned the Mr. Foley situation to the House majority leader, Rep. John Boehner, a Republican of Ohio.

Aide Confirms to Ethics Committee He Reported Foley Abuse to Hastert

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