HOME | BIO | MUSIC | JOURNEYS BY DJ | STUDIO BLOG | POLITICAL BLOG | BOOKING INFO | CONTACT

When I first heard about a potential scandal involving a Republican Congressman and a 16-year old male page, I stayed entirely away from the subject. Before I would comment I wanted proof; speculating on this one just seemed wrong.

Then Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned abruptly, and suddenly the story was everywhere. Within hours, we knew Foley was involved with more than one page, and that there was both an email and IM trail providing direct evidence.

It was shocking, but it seemed like an isolated incident. Poltically, it seemed to me the damage would be fairly isolated. But then within hours the scandal began to grow. Rumors swirled that the House Republican leadership knew about Foley's behavior yet did nothing. I commented briefly, but given the nature of the crime, honestly thought there was no way these rumors were true. We're talking a male congressman and several underage male pages. They couldn't possibly be so depraved that they just let this slide. Could they?

Apparently, they could. Once again I was wrong. And now this story is moving so quickly I can barely keep up.

Last night, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told the Post that he did indeed know about this, that he had spoken with Speaker Hastert (R-IL), and that Hastert assured him that "we're taking care of it." But within hours he had denied he had ever said any such thing, saying instead that he couldn't remember if they had ever spoken about the matter.

Then, news broke that another congressman, Rep. Alexander (R-LA), knew about Foley's activity, but rather than contact the appropriate authorities within Congress, he instead told the NRCC, a Republican electoral body not part of Congress. That's right - he treated it as if it were a political problem, not an ethical one. Given that there are minors involved here, I'm sure you can see why that's not exactly appropriate.

Rep Alexander was of course immediately tracked down by reporters, who got confirmation that while he had indeed contacted Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY). head of the NRCC, he had also contacted the Clerk of the House, who launched an investigation headed by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) on behalf of the House Page Board.

Rep. Shimkus then confirmed all this, adding that at the time he himself followed up with both Rep. Foley and the House Clerk, launching an investigation that dismissed the incident as awkward and overly-friendly but ultimately innocent.

And here's where this scandal really metastasizes. The House Page Board has only one Democratic member, Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI). And I'll let him speak for himself here:

As the Democratic Member of the House Page Board, any statement by Mr. Reynolds or anyone else that the House Page Board ever investigated Mr. Foley is completely untrue.

I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House Page and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter.

The first and only meeting of the House Page Board on this matter occurred on Friday, September 29 at approximately 6 p.m., after the allegations about Mr. Foley had become public.

That leaves only two possible conclusions. Either they are lying about conducting the investigation, or they deliberately excluded the Democratic member of the Board from the investigation. All of which makes this next fact much, much more interesting:

According to Josh Marshall, the Clerk at that time was Jeff Trandahl. I say at that time because roughly around the time in question Trandahl left his position. Did he leave voluntarily? Was he pushed? And what does he have to say about all this? Something tells me we'll know more by the end of the weekend.

But back to Hastert. After remaining largely silent for the first 24 hours, his office was finally forced to issue a statement. Josh Marshall has the full text, and I think his interpretation here is dead on:

Basically, everyone's so mindful of the sensitivity of the matter they manage never to investigate what actually happened. Isn't that what they're saying?

And also, as luck would have it, the extreme sensitivity to the parent's feelings helps keep the entire matter hermetically sealed from Speaker Hastert.

So everyone's very mindful of the privacy of the family. But somehow Rep. Boehner and Rep. Reynolds found out about it from Rep. Alexander. And Reynolds mentioned it to Hastert. But Hastert doesn't remember. And Boehner told Hastert about it too. And Hastert said it was being taken care of. Only Hastert never heard about it ...

Moral bankruptcy. There's simply no other way to describe this. This wasn't two consenting adults here. It was a congressman and a child. And yet they did nothing?

This scandal cuts to the heart of the GOP's message in a way nothing else possibly could. Who knows how big the ramifications of this will be. One thing is for sure - the way this is playing out, barring a catastrophe, nobody is going to be talking about anything else for the next few days.

Except, I suppose, Bob Woodward's new book. More on that in a bit....

UPDATE: Roll Call is reporting that there are at least eleven Republican Representatives involved in the coverup.