Hastert (R- IL) Knew About Pedophile Foley (R-FL) Last Year... And So Did Many Other "Family Values" Republicans

Foley Interviewed About Page Last Year; Democrats Not Told
Ethics Inquiry Ordered

By John Bresnahan and Susan Davis
Roll Call

Friday, Sept. 29; 10:58 pm

Ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who resigned Friday after reports of his improper communications with a former male House page were made public, was interviewed about some of those contacts by the chairman of the House Page Board and the then-Clerk of the House last year.

And late Friday night, the House passed a resolution directing the ethics committee to begin an inquiry into Foley’s behavior. --snip--

At least four Republican House Members, one senior GOP aide and a former top officer of the House were aware of the allegations about Foley that prompted the initial reporting regarding his e-mail contacts with a 16-year-old House page. They include: Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) and Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.), as well as a senior aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl.

--snip--

Shimkus, who chairs the page board, and Trandahl, who administered the program, met with Foley in 2005 after learning of Foley’s e-mail exchange with the former page by Alexander. Shimkus released a detailed statement Friday night.

Hm. All of the Republicans failed to inform the Democrat on the page board...

Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), who serves on the page board, was never told of the interview with Foley.

"I became aware of it this afternoon when [Shimkus] came by my office. I think we should have had a page meeting right away," Kildee said, referring to last year's discovery of Foley's e-mails.

When asked if was upset about being excluded, Kildee said yes, adding, "I've been on the page board for 20 years."

As for Shimkus, the chair of the page board...

"I'm the chairman of the page board," Shimkus said when asked why he didn't include Kildee. "The Clerk and I addressed this issue."

Oh. Right. Sure, Shimkus.

Guess who introduced the ethics investigation last night.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi, that's who.

Best bar bet in the world: Delilah didn't do it.
Judges 16:19-- And she made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.