Majority Leader Asked to Testify on Foley
“According to sources, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) received an invitation Wednesday to appear before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, but a specific date was not disclosed.
“A spokesman for Boehner reiterated that he will cooperate fully with the investigation.
“Additionally, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) will appear before the ethics committee next week. Adam Terry, a spokesman for Alexander, said he will ‘voluntarily’ offer testimony Wednesday.” (Roll Call) (sub. req.)
Hastert Aides Interest Ethics Panel
“[I]nvestigators for the House ethics committee are bearing down on three senior members of Hastert’s staff to determine when they learned of Foley’s actions and whether they passed on their knowledge to the speaker.
“The three — chief of staff Scott Palmer, deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke and counsel Ted Van Der Meid — have formed a palace guard around Hastert (R-Ill.) for years, attaining great degrees of power and unusual autonomy to deal with matters of politics, policy and House operations. They are also remarkably close. Palmer and Stokke have been with Hastert for decades. They live together in a Capitol Hill townhouse and commute back to Illinois on weekends.” (WaPo)
Palmer a Strong Voice for Hastert
“Last Friday, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) went before the cameras in Batavia, Ill., and proclaimed that the ultimate responsibility for the scandal surrounding ex-Rep. Mark Foleyâs (R-Fla.) behavior with pages lay with him. ‘The buck stops here,’ Hastert said.
“But while Hastert may have stepped forward to take the blame, events of the past two weeks have shifted some of the burden â and the spotlight â to the man who is often at Hastertâs side but would prefer to remain out of sight, Scott Palmer.
“After more than 20 years as Hastertâs chief of staff, Palmer is unquestionably the most powerful unelected official in the House and is described as extraordinarily devoted to protecting his boss.
“Yet Hastertâs future may now rest on the actions of Palmer, specifically on a meeting that Palmer either did or did not have in 2002 or 2003 with Kirk Fordham, Foleyâs then-chief of staff who now says he warned Palmer that Foley had a problem with Congressional pages….
“Palmer has what one friend called ‘quite eclectic pursuits.’ He gardens, reads constantly, enjoys opera and is an avid art enthusiast and shopper.” (Roll Call, sub. req.)
Ethics Panel Questions Page Supervisors
“House officials who directly supervise teenage congressional pages were questioned Wednesday by ethics committee investigators probing the handling of former Rep. Mark Foley’s inappropriate messages to pages….
“By starting with those closest to the pages, investigators can learn what the youngsters might have told the supervisors about Foley, R-Fla., and whether they reported any inappropriate conduct to higher House officials.” (AP)
Page: Foley touched page on House floor
“A former House page said he witnessed inappropriate contact between former Republican Congressman Mark Foley and another page in the back of the House floor in early 2001.
“The page, Richard Nguyen, a first-year student at the University’s Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, said he saw Foley pat a male page’s behind.
“Foley’s attorney did not return calls for comment.
“Nguyen said he was not sure during which month the incident took place. He was a page between January and June of 2001.
“Nguyen did not report the incident to authorities. At the time, the then-16-year-old thought it was ‘questionable activity,’ but he was unsure how to interpret it.
“‘I wasn’t sure if it was a social norm I wasn’t accustomed to,’ Nguyen said. ‘I mean, you see athletes patting each other’s asses all the time on the field.'” (The Michigan Daily)
Doubt is Raised about Foley as Secret Drinker
“When former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) entered alcohol-abuse treatment amid scandal over his relationships with congressional page boys, his attorney said the ex-lawmaker never drank alcohol in public.
“Attorney David Roth categorically stated that the disgraced lawmaker hid his abuse by drinking alone.
“But the photograph (above) from The Hillâs archives shows Foley holding a glass of wine at a Capitol Hill reception on May 19, 2004.
“He went to the reception with several other House members. This and other evidence suggests Foley was a social drinker and a wine aficionado.
“The photograph and first-hand accounts of Foleyâs public drinking told by acquaintances in Washington and Florida could reinforce doubts about the veracity of the claim that a drinking problem fueled his behavior, which included carrying on sexually explicit instant-message chats with former pages.” (The Hill)
As the Foley Case Unfolds, Hastert Gets a More Enthusiastic Nod From Bush
“Early last week, President Bush said he respected J. Dennis Hastert as a father, a teacher and a coach â but did not say what he thought of him as House speaker.
“Two days later, amid continuing calls for Mr. Hastert to resign as speaker over the Mark Foley e-mail scandal, Mr. Bush expressed more direct support for Mr. Hastert, but only through aides.
“This week, Mr. Bush is giving Mr. Hastert a more unmistakable embrace, telling reporters on Wednesday: ‘Denny is very credible, as far as Iâm concerned. And heâs done a fine job as speaker.'” (NY Times)
Hastert Duped by Evangelist?
“An international evangelist, who apparently conned his way into Speaker Dennis Hastertâs (R) home in Illinois, actually is on a âcrusadeâ to âsave America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power and mired in scandal,â the evangelistâs spokesman said Wednesday in an e-mail to reporters.” (Roll Call) (sub. req.)
Page Scandal Exposes GOP’s Gay Identity Crisis
“For Republicans, the most difficult problem posed by the e-mail exchanges that former congressman Mark Foley had with pages is not necessarily the flagrant misbehavior of one member. Rather it’s the fact that the investigation is exposing a politically awkward fact of life: some GOP leaders practice a more tolerant brand of politics in their office hiring than some in the party have preached on the campaign trail.” (USA Today)
Rep. Kolbe Visited Grand Canyon with Pages
“Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) took two male pages with him on a three-day camping trip in 1996, former congressional pages and National Park Service officials have told NBC News.
“The pages, who were 17 at the time, went rafting and camping with Kolbe in the Grand Canyon over the July 4th holiday that year.
“A spokeswoman for Kolbe confirmed the overnight trip but said that the pages did not travel alone with Kolbe.” (NBC)
“Foley Fallout” Predicted to Affect Texas Races
“Disgraced Republican former Congressman Mark Foley of Florida may not be mentioned by name in Texas campaign ads, but he will be a factor in the upcoming election anyway, say some experts from both parties.
“‘It’s not a matter of just one or two races. Every race. Because what it really does is suppress turnout,’ said GOP consultant Royal Masset. ;I really figure that Foley is probably at this point taking about 3 percent out of our vote. … If people are just mad at Republicans, they’re not going to vote.'” (Houston Chronicle)
Journalists Sat in on Admin Post 9/11 Pow-Wow: Clash with Saddam “Inevitable”
In November, 2001, at Paul Wolfowitz’s request, American Enterprise Institute president Christopher Demuth recruited a dozen people — Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria and The Atlantic Monthly’s Robert Kaplan among them. The report that the group produced from the meeting “concluded that a confrontation with Saddam was inevitable,” according to Bob Woodward’s State of Denial. (War & Piece)
Report Criticizes Ex-ATF Chief
“The former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives violated ethics rules by requiring 20 employees to help his teenage nephew prepare a high school video project, part of a wide-ranging pattern of questionable expenditures on a new ATF headquarters, personal security and other items, according to a report issued yesterday.
“Carl J. Truscott, who previously served as head of President Bush’s security detail at the Secret Service, also took several trips with excessive numbers of ATF agents, including a $37,000 journey to London in September 2005 with eight other employees, according to the report.” (WaPo)
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Denies Opponent’s Subpoena Claim
“Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez told The Associated Press Wednesday that he has not been subpoenaed in any federal investigation, a claim Republican opponent Tom Kean Jr. continued to maintain….
“The U.S. attorney’s office has issued a subpoena seeking records from the North Hudson Community Action Corp. related to a lease agreement it had with Menendez, who rented a house he owned in Union City to the group, and also helped the nonprofit organization obtain federal funds. Menendez has said he obtained verbal clearance from the House Ethics Committee before entering into the lease agreement.” (AP)
Congressman Rick Renzi And The Very Strange Coincidence
“Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was poised to push congressional legislation involving a former business partner’s land â but says that he washed his hands of the deal after a lobbyist questioned their ties.” (Phoenix New Times)
Top Aide to Illinois Governor Is Indicted in Kickback Inquiry
“Accusations of political corruption drew closer to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois on Wednesday, as a federal grand jury indicted one of his top advisers and fund-raisers in an alleged kickback scheme involving state pension funds.” (NY Times)
