I hope this blows up in the GOP Congressional Leadership’s face, big-time.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was notified early this year of inappropriate e-mails from former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a 16-year-old page, a top GOP House member said yesterday — contradicting the speaker’s assertions that he learned of concerns about Foley only last week.
Hastert did not dispute the claims of Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), and his office confirmed that some of Hastert’s top aides knew last year that Foley had been ordered to cease contact with the boy and to treat all pages respectfully.
Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, became the second senior House Republican to say that Hastert has known of Foley’s contacts for months, prompting Democratic attacks about the GOP leadership’s inaction. Foley abruptly resigned his seat Friday.
It’s still early in the scandal, so more facts may still come out. But anything that hints that the GOP leaders in the House acted with the same sort of cover-ups and wrist-slappings that smack of the Catholic Church pedophilia scandals is — and should be — going to haunt them for years. Lay it on top of various financial and kickback scandals, and it’s all justifiable ammo the Dems can (and will) use in the race a month from now.
Apparently, even though Foley has resigned, his name can’t be taken off the ballot at this point. It’s a heavily Republican district (Foley was expected to win handily), but the question is whether GOP supporters going to the polls who vote Democratic will be (a) voting against “Foley” not realizing it’s the replacement candidate the GOP has put in, or (b) voting against “Foley” because they don’t like the way the GOP is handling things (including the whole Foley incident).
One would hope for (b) rather than (a) — though I might be willing to accept the number numbers regardless of the reason.