October 7, 2006:

Republican Rep. John Shimkus demanded Friday that two of Congress's leading Democrats apologize for what he said were accusations that he tried to cover up the Capitol Hill pages' scandal involving former GOP Rep. Mark Foley.

In interviews with news media outlets in his south central Illinois congressional district, Shimkus lashed out at a fellow Illinoisan, Sen. Dick Durbin, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.

"People, like Senator Durbin and Nancy Pelosi, who are using this for partisan gain, they ought to be ashamed of themselves," Shimkus said on WJPF-AM radio in Herrin.

According to the House Ethics Committee report released today:

After Foley resigned, Shimkus told another Republican member of the Page Board _ Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia _ why he never informed the Democratic member of the board, Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, about Foley.

Shimkus said, 'Dale's a nice guy, but he's a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion."