House Speaker Dennis Hastert felt added pressure Wednesday as the former chief of staff to House Republican campaign committee chair Thomas Reynolds and former aide to Mark Foley came forward and said that he had asked Hastert's office “to intervene” after revelations of Foley's inappropriate behavior became known sometime between 2001 and 2003.
Said Kirk Fordham: “I have no congressman and no office to protect.”
Hastert's office denied the charges. Said a spokesman for the Speaker: “What Kirk Fordham said did not happen.”
Fordham's claim, if true, would mean that Republican leadership knew about Foley's behavior at least a year earlier than they have admitted.
Added Fordham: “Rather than trying to shift the blame on me, those who are employed by these House Leaders should acknowledge what they know about their action or inaction in response to the information they knew about Mr. Foley prior to 2005.” (Fordham's full statement.)
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
New page comes forward, claims Foley sent him messages “almost sexual in nature” in 1997, says he never felt threatened: “To me, it was simply a very lonely, very sick, very desperate man seeking attention from someone he apparently found attractive.”
The hidden life behind Foley's public persona. Friend: “I think [the Republican party was] willing to overlook it as long as he stayed in the closet. I don't know how he behaved in Washington, but down here the topic was always public issues and not personal lives.”
Mislabeling continues: now Foley and Hastert are Democrats, according to press. FOX does it again…
John Walsh knows the difference between gays and pedophiles. On Larry King: “I think in the 21st century, people have a right to keep their sexuality, you know, to themselves. But, you know, making overt advances to 16-year-old boys from a 52-year-old man is nothing about (being) gay. It's about pedophilia.”
Bay Buchanan on Hastert: “He has to go now. And I think the speaker himself will realize that…. There's no — he should bite the bullet because of what he did know — and that we're certain he knew — six months ago, at least, which is that there was a predator in his midst, amongst his colleagues, who were preying on high school boys. You have to step forward. You have to stop that…”
Some Repubs calling Foley alcoholism a ploy. Rep. Peter King (R-NY): “I don't buy this at all. I think this is a phony defense. The fact is, I think he's responsible for what he did here and I think it's a gimmick.”
The tragic opera of former congressman Mark Foley is the revenge of don't ask, don't tell: “If this has a familiar ring, look in the Catholic Church for the bell. Republican leadership was acting like the Catholic hierarchy, which played shell games with men accused of sexually abusing children. And there's a good reason for the similarity. The inability to deal straightforwardly with gay people leads to other kinds of truth-avoidance when things go south. But that's what comes from not wanting to know something, and going out of your way to remain ignorant.”
The Background
Mark Foley's Indiscretions Began in '95, as did Cover-Up [tr]
Foley is Gay, Says Attorney; Was Molested by Clergyman as Teenager [tr]
The Talk: Foley, Jon Stewart, Hastert, Bay Buchanan [tr]
Mark Foley Scandal Updates [tr]
Investigations Begin into Cover-up Surrounding Mark Foley: Republican Leaders Knew of Misdeeds for Five Years, Did Nothing [tr]
Political Page Turner: Rep. Mark Foley Resigns Seat Over Inappropriate Emails [tr]
Male Page and Rep Mark Foley in Troubling Email Exchange [tr]
