Whatever Happened to: Hastert’s Page Probe?

Unveiling his “buck stops here” rhetoric last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) announced he was going to order up an independent panel to “advise us on the page program,” in response to the Foley scandal. Remember?

The morning of the press conference, Ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh had been the rumored head of the panel, and the effort was thought to be an investigation — but by the time Hastert appeared before reporters, he said only that he was “looking for a person of high caliber” to “advise” on the program.

So whatever happened to that?

In a word, nothing.

Staff for Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) met to discuss ideas today, I’m told, but there’s been no movement. The only real change has been that Hastert now seems to blame Pelosi for the delay. Take his comments on Tuesday:

“I asked for Louis Freeh to do it, Nancy Pelosi rejected him for some reason, so we are going to continue to find someone to head up and do an investigation and make sure we can make this page situation much better[.]”

Now that’s a neat idea, Democrats likely think — that Hastert would ask permission from Pelosi before doing something. As a top-ranking Republican in a bitterly divided House, Hastert’s style isn’t one of all-embracing consensus.

Said Pelosi’s press secretary, Jennifer Crider: “[Hastert] called to notify her” of his idea that Freeh give advice on the page program. “He used ‘notify’ three times.” According to Crider, Pelosi’s problem wasn’t Freeh, it was the focus of the “investigation.”

“The problem is complaints were made [and] weren’t handled appropriately,” Pelosi told the speaker, according to Crider.

Hastert’s office has only confirmed that there have been no developments in the investigation — er, advisory panel — since he first mentioned it last Thursday.