Newsweek: Foley Drunken Dorm Visit Prompted Intervention

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In a long, detailed piece on the Foley scandal, Newsweek gives the most detailed account yet of Kirk Fordham’s early warning to Speaker Hastert’s chief of staff about Foley’s interest in the House pages.

According to Newsweek, Fordham, then Foley’s chief of staff, approached Scott Palmer after Foley’s now-infamous drunken visit to the House page dorm. But most significantly, Fordham says that after the meeting, Palmer told him that he’d “informed the Speaker” about the problem — and this was “sometime in 2002 or 2003.”

From Newsweek:

As early as in 2001, Fordham had received disturbing reports of Foley’s “inappropriate” behavior toward the congressional pages. According to a knowledgeable source familiar with Fordham’s account, who did not wish to be identified discussing such a sensitive matter, Fordham is prepared to tell investigators that he was warned “on two or three occasions” about Foley’s “overly friendly” socializing with young male pages.

He was informed by Jeff Trandahl, then the Clerk of the House, who oversees the page program. On one occasion, sometime in 2002 or 2003, Trandahl told Fordham about Foley’s nocturnal adventure to the pages’ dorm. Trandahl told Fordham that Foley “appeared intoxicated,” according to the source who provided Fordham’s account to NEWSWEEK.

This incident prompted Fordham to go to Scott Palmer, Hastert’s chief of staff, and tell him about Foley’s behavior. Fordham called Palmer and told him that he wanted to speak with him privately, the source says. The two men met in a small office on Capitol Hill. (Palmer says the meeting never took place.)

Fordham did not tell Palmer about Foley’s attempt to enter the pages’ dormitory, but rather that he was generally concerned about his boss’s excessive friendliness to the pages, according to the source. Palmer expressed surprise and concern, the source says, and wondered what this could mean to Foley’s political future. Why would he endanger his career with such conduct?

Palmer assured Fordham that he would talk to Foley. A day or two later, Fordham called Palmer to ask what happened. Palmer told him that he “dealt with it” by talking to Foley and that he “informed the Speaker,” according to the source familiar with Fordham’s account. Months later Fordham had an awkward conversation with Foley in which his boss indicated that he had spoken to Palmer.

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