Oliver Willis

Apparently several members of the Republican leadership knew there was a man interested sexually in boys in their midst and they kept quiet about it.

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley’s GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him "we’re taking care of it."

Here is the question I want answered: is the Republican leadership so focused on holding on to power, to keeping their majority in the congress, that they were willing to keep quiet probable pedophilia?

UPDATE: Boehner is now claiming he didn’t know and didn’t tell Hastert. So why did he tell that to the Post?

John Aravosis has more on the timeline of Republican knowledge.

The Palm Beach Post:

Congressional staff members who asked not to be identified said it was widely known among Hill staffers and some House leaders that Foley had been engaging in inappropriate conduct and language with young aides.

One highly placed staff member said Foley’s abrupt resignation may have been demanded by Republican leaders who have been aware for some time about allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Foley’s campaign staff had said Foley routinely asked for pictures of former interns and others who might be seeking a recommendation.

Rep Pelosi has passed a resolution requiring an immediate investigation.

“For nearly a year, Republican leaders have known of the egregious behavior of Congressman Mark Foley, yet were prepared to adjourn tonight without an Ethics Committee investigation. But because Democrats forced a vote on a privileged resolution, the House has now acted unanimously to have the Ethics Committee conduct a bipartisan investigation.

“The investigation must determine when Mr. Foley sent the inappropriate emails, who knew of them, whether there was a pattern of inappropriate activity by Mr. Foley with pages or former pages, when the Republican leadership was notified, and what corrective action was taken once officials learned of any improper activity.

“For more than 150 years, children from across the nation have come to Washington to serve as pages in the U.S. Capitol. The Page School is a national treasure, and the children who attend it and work in the Congress are our special trust. Members of Congress have a responsibility to protect their employees, especially young pages who serve this institution.”

One or more Republican Reps had the information on Foley’s predatory behavior last year yet chose (conveniently) not to tell the Democrats.

For probably the first time in history I agree - in part - with a Free Republic poster:

If anyone else knew about Foley and what he was doing, then I would think they’ll also be expected to resign. How could they, if they knew there were suspicions about him, put him charge of the house caucus on missing exploited children. What the hell were they thinking. I can just see Pelosi have a field day with this one, sheesh, I can’t take that woman.

It’s the resigning part I agree with. I like Rep. Pelosi.

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The Republican culture of corruption refuses to die.

A bipartisan Congressional report documents hundreds of contacts between White House officials and the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partners, including at least 10 direct contacts between Mr. Abramoff and Karl Rove, the president’s chief political strategist.

The House Government Reform Committee report, based on e-mail messages and other records subpoenaed from Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying firm, found 485 contacts between Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying team and White House officials from 2001 to 2004, including 82 with Mr. Rove’s office.

You know, whenever stuff even remotely embarrasing comes out about a Democrat, the Republicans are screaming it from the rafters (and I’ve got to extend this to Gov. Dean - I strongly support the work he’s doing to fix the long term infrastructure of the party, but why is it barely a day goes by without Ken Mehlman on air talking up the GOP, but Gov. Dean’s appearances are few and far between?). Yet, the GOP continues to gift-wrap its corruption and mendacity and the sound from the Democrats is crickets chirping. They are so afraid to move ahead with something that hasn’t been poll tested to within an inch of its life, they end up just letting things pass by. And on the rare occasions that they do hit on something, they think just one press conference or just one press release is all it needs. I have communicated with one or two folks on the inside and it seems like they just don’t understand this. They think that just one presser, or just one email is doing the job while it’s just losing the game.

As I have noted before, the way the world works now - not the way we wish it would work, but the way it actually does - is that a political party must repeat, repeat, repeat its talking points to the point of exhaustion while hitting the press via press releases and activist contact until they begin covering it and the Republicans must respond.

But apart from the occasional campaign operation that gets it, Democrats refuse to do this. It seems irrational but the only conclusion I can keep coming to is that they actually want to lose. They’ve become so used to it, to being the whipped spouse that they think this is how things always have been and will remain.

Stop it. You make me sick. Fight. Stand up. Do Something.

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