Betrayed: Why Dennis Hastert Must Resign
By Adam Graham (10/02/06)
The recent resignation of Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fl.) is the latest in a string of disgraceful performances by the Republican Conference. A story of “too friendly” e-mails to a former page opened a dam when another page turned over damning Instant messages that showed the Congressman soliciting sex from teenage boys who had served as pages.
The e-mails from the first page were reported to the boy’s Congressman, Rodney Alexander by the boy’s parents. Alexander reported the e-mails (directly or through others) to multiple sources, including National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds and House Majority Leader John Boehner, as well as the Republican member of the page board, Rep. John Skimus (R-Ill.)
Both Boehner and Reynolds claimed to have told Hastert, although Boehner later recanted when Hastert stated he had not been told. Now Hastert is claiming he “doesn’t recall” the conversation, but won’t dispute it, either; a very interesting flip flop on a previous statement.
With Hastert, we’re left to conclude either he lied, or has a very bad memory. Given the reports from two congressmen, plus the unusual circumstances, I lean towards the former. However more damning than that is that incoming pages were warned about Foley’s conduct five years ago, according to the President of the Page Alumni Association.
Now, we’re left with two conclusions regarding Dennis Hastert’s knowledge of Mark Foley’s behavior towards young congressional pages. Either, Mr. Hastert is so aloof he has less knowledge of what’s going on in the US House than a staffer supervising teenagers, or he willfully chose to ignore the information and let a member of his leadership team engage in this conduct while also serving as co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
Neither the image of the aloof and clueless leader, or the enabler of bad conduct are good images for the House speaker. Dennis Hastert, as Speaker of the US House, is charged with upholding the dignity and honor of that institution. His failure to address this issue, either through unbelievable ignorance or utter disregard for the safety and welfare of the House’s young charges, is a failure in leadership and a betrayal of conservative principles for which he must stand down as Speaker for the good of the House and the Republican Party.
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