Hastert Vows To Fire Any Aides Linked to a Foley Cover-Up

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON — The House Speaker, Rep. Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois, said again yesterday that his staff aides acted appropriately last fall in handling information on Rep. Mark Foley’s conduct.

“I didn’t think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong,” Mr. Hastert said. But he also issued a stern warning: “If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs.”

The developments unfolded as a prominent conservative quoted Mr. Hastert as casting doubt on claims by two members of the leadership in connection with the page scandal.

Mr. Hastert “assured me that the statement by Congressman John A. Boehner … that months ago he had told Hastert about the page problem with Congressman Foley was incorrect,” Paul Weyrich wrote in an e-mail commentary on the issue. Mr. Boehner, a Republican of Ohio, is the majority leader.

“As to Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds, the speaker said, ‘If he had mentioned this problem to me, I surely would have taken notice,'” Mr. Weyrich added in an account of a phone conversation with Mr. Hastert. Mr. Reynolds, a Republican of New York, heads the House Republican campaign organization.

Mr. Weyrich quoted Mr. Hastert as saying Mr. Reynolds often came to him with numerous requests to help “incumbents who are in trouble. The speaker said he signs off on the majority of requests and only listens with one ear because the requests are repetitive.”

A Kolbe spokeswoman, Korenna Cline, said the complaints to the lawmaker from a former page involved e-mails that were described as “creepy” but were not seen by Mr. Kolbe and occurred in 2001 or 2002, well before House leaders say they first learned of inappropriate messages sent by Mr. Foley.

Mr. Kolbe is the second person to come forward and say that top House officials had early warnings about inappropriate Foley approaches to pages. The top administrative officer of the House, Jeff Trandahl, got his job from Mr. Hastert.

A lawyer for Kirk Fordham, Mr. Foley’s longtime chief of staff, said Mr. Fordham would tell the House ethics panel tomorrow that he warned Mr. Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, about inappropriate Foley conduct with pages in 2003 or possibly the previous year. Mr. Palmer has denied Mr. Fordham’s account.

Mr. Hastert says he learned of Mr. Foley’s conduct toward pages only on September 29, when the Florida lawmaker abruptly resigned after being confronted by ABC News with copies of lurid instant messages he had sent to a former page. About a year ago, Mr. Hastert aides learned from Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Republican of Louisiana, about “over-friendly” but not sexually explicit e-mails from Mr. Foley to a former page from Louisiana.The aides did not inform Mr. Hastert, according to an account by his office.

Rep. Jim Mr. Kolbe of Arizona said yesterday that he told the House official in charge of the page program as early as 2001 about Mr. Foley’s “creepy” e-mail to a former page.

Mr. Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, said a former page he had sponsored contacted his office to complain of e-mails from Mr. Foley and that he “passed along” the complaint to Mr. Foley, a Republican of Florida, and then-House Clerk Mr. Trandahl. Mr. Kolbe said he did not take the matter to other lawmakers. In other developments yesterday:

• A former congressional page said to have received electronic messages from Mr. Foley met with FBI agents in Oklahoma City. Stephen Jones, an attorney for ex-page Jordan Edmund, said Edmund “answered their questions and cooperated to the fullest” and that he had been contacted by the House ethics committee as well.

• Mr. Trandahl’s lawyer, Cono Namorato, said Mr. Trandahl “will cooperate fully with the FBI and the House ethics committee investigations.”

• Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican of Illinois, chairman of the House Page Board, has relayed to the House Ethics Committee his “interest to cooperate” and appear before the panel whenever requested, Shimkus spokesman Steve Tomaszewski said. Mr. Shimkus has not been informed when he should expect to testify.

• Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, a Republican of Washington, told the Associated Press the panel is “moving to have this done in weeks. …We are moving as quickly as we can.” But he declined to say whether the committee would complete its investigation before the elections on November 7.


The New York Sun

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