when all else fails blame bill clinton (Hastert)
darkcrow
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-061004foley,1,3257472.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Hastert dodges Foley heat, denies report of repeated warnings
By Rick Pearson and Mike Dorning
Tribune staff reporters
Published October 4, 2006, 10:26 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- A defiant House Speaker Dennis Hastert fought Wednesday to hold on to his leadership post while fractures appeared among his lieutenants and a former senior aide to Mark Foley said he repeatedly had warned Hastert's top aide about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward underage pages more than two years ago.
In an interview with the Tribune on Wednesday night, Hastert said that he had no thoughts of resigning and he blamed ABC News and Democratic operatives for the mushrooming scandal that threatens his tenure as speaker and Republicans' hold on power in the House.
"No. Look, I've talked to our members," Hastert said. "Our members are supportive. I think that [resignation] is exactly what our opponents would like to have happen—that I'd fold my tent and others would fold our tent and they would sweep the House."
When asked about a groundswell of discontent among the GOP's conservative base over his handling of the issue, Hastert said: "I think the base has to realize after awhile, who knew about it? Who knew what, when? When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy. The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
He went on to suggest that operatives aligned with former President Bill Clinton knew about the allegations and were perhaps behind the disclosures in the closing weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, but he offered no hard proof.
"All I know is what I hear and what I see," the speaker said. "I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along. If somebody had this info, when they had it, we could have dealt with it then."
Hastert said he had spoken with former President George H.W. Bush, whom he described as "very supportive." He also said he had not spoken to President Bush.
"I'm sorry that [the contact between Foley and the pages] happened," Hastert said. "Something like this, I take the responsibility. The buck stops where I'm at. When we found out, we dealt with it immediately and the member is gone. … We have reached out to experts to make sure that it never happens again."
But time did not seem to be Hastert's ally. In a day of rapidly unfolding developments, his office immediately denied the charge from former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham that he had alerted the speaker's chief of staff to Foley's behavior well before a former page complained last year of inappropriate e-mails from the Florida Republican congressman. Fordham had resigned earlier in the day as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the Republicans' national congressional campaign chairman, and Reynolds was among those involved in discussions of the page's complaint about Foley.
Hastert challenged Fordham's credibility directly. "You can also find that as late as [Tuesday], he said this member never did anything wrong. He [Fordham] has a short memory."
Fordham's lawyer, Timothy Heaphy, said Fordham warned Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer at least two years ago about inappropriate behavior between Foley and pages.
"Palmer subsequently had a meeting with Foley and Foley mentioned it to Fordham," Heaphy said.
Fordham is unsure when the meeting with Palmer occurred, but Heaphy said it was between 2002 and 2004, when Fordham was Foley's chief of staff.
The FBI has contacted Fordham and "he intends to cooperate completely," Heaphy said.
The usually disciplined House Republican leadership showed more signs of disarray, with House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pointedly telling reporters he would have urged a different course of action had his colleagues informed him of the page's complaint.
"I think I could have given some good advice here, which is, you have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of," said Blunt, who ranks third in the Republican leadership. "You absolutely can't decide not to look into activities because one individual's parents don't want you to."
Blunt is the highest-ranking Republican leader untouched by the page scandal and could be a potential successor to Hastert should he fall.
A day earlier, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who was informed of the page's complaint last spring, appeared to be insulating himself from Hastert, telling a radio audience that he had relied on assurances from Hastert that the issue had been handled.
Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.), in the midst of a highly competitive re-election campaign, abruptly cancelled a fundraiser at which Hastert was scheduled to appear.
Hastert deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke said Hastert has not received any feelers about leaving from the White House or Republican officials and had been on the phone much of the day talking with GOP lawmakers, he added.
Still, national Republican officials were desperately seeking to move beyond a scandal that has crippled their campaign for the mid-term elections.
"This is a disaster. It's undermining our base. And it's been handled terribly," said a Republican official with close ties to the White House. "Quite frankly, right now, everybody's circling the wagons."
But the official pointed out that a departure by Hastert might not solve the party's political difficulties since Boehner also was in the loop on the complaint. "The No. 2 supposedly knew about this months ago," the official said.
With the House Ethics Committee scheduled to begin an investigation on Thursday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that Hastert and the rest of the GOP leadership should be "immediately questioned under oath."
Foley, 52, resigned last week after ABC News disclosed sexually explicit instant messages that the congressman exchanged with teenage former congressional pages. In fall of 2005, Hastert's staff received a complaint from the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) that a former page Alexander had sponsored received an e-mail from Foley requesting a photo and asking the 16-year-old what he wanted for his birthday.
The controversy engulfing Hastert and other Republican leaders has focused on his handling of that complaint and the speaker's staff has stressed that they were unaware of the other, more lurid messages until Foley's resignation.
The matter was referred to then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl, a Republican patronage appointee whose domain includes the page program, and Page Board Chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). They told Foley to cease contact with pages but did not inform authorities or otherwise investigate the matter.
Stokke, who said he referred the complaint without informing Hastert, defended his actions.
"I didn't want it to look political," Stokke said. "It was turned over to the proper authority. And if the proper authority had found anything of a sexual nature, they would have reported back."
Stokke said he could not recall how he heard of the outcome, but he said, "I remember hearing that they had this intervention with Foley and it had been handled."
Stokke said no one on the Hastert staff had received any warnings about inappropriate behavior conduct with pages by Foley until the congressman resigned.
"There were rumors rampant here that he was gay, which is not illegal," Stokke said.
Still, former Foley aide Fordham told The Associated Press he had "more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene" several years ago. Fordham named Palmer, who issued a denial through the speaker's press office.
Before Fordham made his comments, several conservative members of Congress had issued statements of support for the speaker.
"Regardless of our reservations about how this matter was handled administratively, we believe Speaker Hastert is a man of integrity who has led our conference honorably and effectively throughout the past eight years. Speaker Dennis Hastert should not resign," Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) wrote in the letter
But Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Hastert bears a measure of responsibility, reaching back into Hastert's prior career as an educator to make the point.
"If a teacher at a high school or junior high was caught doing this and the principal knew and no corrective action was taken, both the principal and the teacher would be in real trouble with the community," Emanuel said.
Tribune correspondents Andrew Zajac in Washington and Ray Long in Springfield contributed to this report.
rpearson@tribune.com
mdorning@tribune.com
Hastert dodges Foley heat, denies report of repeated warnings
By Rick Pearson and Mike Dorning
Tribune staff reporters
Published October 4, 2006, 10:26 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- A defiant House Speaker Dennis Hastert fought Wednesday to hold on to his leadership post while fractures appeared among his lieutenants and a former senior aide to Mark Foley said he repeatedly had warned Hastert's top aide about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward underage pages more than two years ago.
In an interview with the Tribune on Wednesday night, Hastert said that he had no thoughts of resigning and he blamed ABC News and Democratic operatives for the mushrooming scandal that threatens his tenure as speaker and Republicans' hold on power in the House.
"No. Look, I've talked to our members," Hastert said. "Our members are supportive. I think that [resignation] is exactly what our opponents would like to have happen—that I'd fold my tent and others would fold our tent and they would sweep the House."
When asked about a groundswell of discontent among the GOP's conservative base over his handling of the issue, Hastert said: "I think the base has to realize after awhile, who knew about it? Who knew what, when? When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy. The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
He went on to suggest that operatives aligned with former President Bill Clinton knew about the allegations and were perhaps behind the disclosures in the closing weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, but he offered no hard proof.
"All I know is what I hear and what I see," the speaker said. "I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along. If somebody had this info, when they had it, we could have dealt with it then."
Hastert said he had spoken with former President George H.W. Bush, whom he described as "very supportive." He also said he had not spoken to President Bush.
"I'm sorry that [the contact between Foley and the pages] happened," Hastert said. "Something like this, I take the responsibility. The buck stops where I'm at. When we found out, we dealt with it immediately and the member is gone. … We have reached out to experts to make sure that it never happens again."
But time did not seem to be Hastert's ally. In a day of rapidly unfolding developments, his office immediately denied the charge from former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham that he had alerted the speaker's chief of staff to Foley's behavior well before a former page complained last year of inappropriate e-mails from the Florida Republican congressman. Fordham had resigned earlier in the day as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the Republicans' national congressional campaign chairman, and Reynolds was among those involved in discussions of the page's complaint about Foley.
Hastert challenged Fordham's credibility directly. "You can also find that as late as [Tuesday], he said this member never did anything wrong. He [Fordham] has a short memory."
Fordham's lawyer, Timothy Heaphy, said Fordham warned Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer at least two years ago about inappropriate behavior between Foley and pages.
"Palmer subsequently had a meeting with Foley and Foley mentioned it to Fordham," Heaphy said.
Fordham is unsure when the meeting with Palmer occurred, but Heaphy said it was between 2002 and 2004, when Fordham was Foley's chief of staff.
The FBI has contacted Fordham and "he intends to cooperate completely," Heaphy said.
The usually disciplined House Republican leadership showed more signs of disarray, with House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pointedly telling reporters he would have urged a different course of action had his colleagues informed him of the page's complaint.
"I think I could have given some good advice here, which is, you have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of," said Blunt, who ranks third in the Republican leadership. "You absolutely can't decide not to look into activities because one individual's parents don't want you to."
Blunt is the highest-ranking Republican leader untouched by the page scandal and could be a potential successor to Hastert should he fall.
A day earlier, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who was informed of the page's complaint last spring, appeared to be insulating himself from Hastert, telling a radio audience that he had relied on assurances from Hastert that the issue had been handled.
Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.), in the midst of a highly competitive re-election campaign, abruptly cancelled a fundraiser at which Hastert was scheduled to appear.
Hastert deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke said Hastert has not received any feelers about leaving from the White House or Republican officials and had been on the phone much of the day talking with GOP lawmakers, he added.
Still, national Republican officials were desperately seeking to move beyond a scandal that has crippled their campaign for the mid-term elections.
"This is a disaster. It's undermining our base. And it's been handled terribly," said a Republican official with close ties to the White House. "Quite frankly, right now, everybody's circling the wagons."
But the official pointed out that a departure by Hastert might not solve the party's political difficulties since Boehner also was in the loop on the complaint. "The No. 2 supposedly knew about this months ago," the official said.
With the House Ethics Committee scheduled to begin an investigation on Thursday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that Hastert and the rest of the GOP leadership should be "immediately questioned under oath."
Foley, 52, resigned last week after ABC News disclosed sexually explicit instant messages that the congressman exchanged with teenage former congressional pages. In fall of 2005, Hastert's staff received a complaint from the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) that a former page Alexander had sponsored received an e-mail from Foley requesting a photo and asking the 16-year-old what he wanted for his birthday.
The controversy engulfing Hastert and other Republican leaders has focused on his handling of that complaint and the speaker's staff has stressed that they were unaware of the other, more lurid messages until Foley's resignation.
The matter was referred to then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl, a Republican patronage appointee whose domain includes the page program, and Page Board Chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). They told Foley to cease contact with pages but did not inform authorities or otherwise investigate the matter.
Stokke, who said he referred the complaint without informing Hastert, defended his actions.
"I didn't want it to look political," Stokke said. "It was turned over to the proper authority. And if the proper authority had found anything of a sexual nature, they would have reported back."
Stokke said he could not recall how he heard of the outcome, but he said, "I remember hearing that they had this intervention with Foley and it had been handled."
Stokke said no one on the Hastert staff had received any warnings about inappropriate behavior conduct with pages by Foley until the congressman resigned.
"There were rumors rampant here that he was gay, which is not illegal," Stokke said.
Still, former Foley aide Fordham told The Associated Press he had "more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene" several years ago. Fordham named Palmer, who issued a denial through the speaker's press office.
Before Fordham made his comments, several conservative members of Congress had issued statements of support for the speaker.
"Regardless of our reservations about how this matter was handled administratively, we believe Speaker Hastert is a man of integrity who has led our conference honorably and effectively throughout the past eight years. Speaker Dennis Hastert should not resign," Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) wrote in the letter
But Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Hastert bears a measure of responsibility, reaching back into Hastert's prior career as an educator to make the point.
"If a teacher at a high school or junior high was caught doing this and the principal knew and no corrective action was taken, both the principal and the teacher would be in real trouble with the community," Emanuel said.
Tribune correspondents Andrew Zajac in Washington and Ray Long in Springfield contributed to this report.
rpearson@tribune.com
mdorning@tribune.com
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http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=5
...
also... think of Xxxxxxxx as a supple young boy with rippling muscles and tender buttocks... much like Rep. Foley did.
Hail, Hail!!!