Chicago Sun Times Editorial - Republicans must provide answers in Foley scandal

Chicago Sun Times Editorial - Republicans must provide answers in Foley scandal
October 3, 2006
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times


The instant message was repugnant: "How my favorite young stud doing," Republican Rep. Mark Foley, 52, wrote to a 16-year-old boy who had recently been a congressional page. But what was even more reprehensible was the failure of the Republicans in the House who were told months ago of Foley's e-mails but didn't investigate and kept silent until ABC News broke the story Friday. One has to wonder: Would this ever have come to light if ABC hadn't broadcast it?

Undoubtedly not, particularly on the eve of a very crucial election.

On Monday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the bipartisan panel overseeing the page program, held a press conference. They expressed revulsion over Foley's actions and talked about taking further precautions to keep the young pages safe. Hastert even suggested that Foley, who resigned Friday, duped everyone who worked with him. But Hastert refused to answer questions from reporters. And questions remain. Republicans -- who impeached President Bill Clinton over his inappropriate relationship with the intern Monica Lewinsky -- should know better than to keep silent.

Shimkus, for example, apparently didn't tell the Democratic members on the panel about allegation against Foley, and they learned it, like everyone else, from TV. "Mark Foley should be ashamed," Shimkus told the press conference. So should Shimkus and any other Republican who failed to protect the young people serving as pages. Hastert says he does not recall being told about the first reports of Foley's behavior last year. The early reports on the messages did not contain any explicit language. Still, when the GOP leaders heard about them, why did they take Foley's word that the messages were merely "over friendly?" Why didn't they launch a formal investigation? In this day, when there has been so much angst and anger over the sexual predations of Catholic priests and school teachers, why did Shimkus and the other Republicans in the know just shrug this off? The horrible irony is that Foley himself sponsored legislation to protect children from sexual predators.

The page system culls high school students from across the country to act as congressional gofers for a semester, and they are vulnerable and may be so flattered by attentions from politicians that they become susceptible to inappropriate overtures, like the male page who eventually told his parents about Foley's messages. This isn't the first time pages have been preyed upon by members of Congress; there were two sordid incidents in the 1980s. But it must be the last. Republicans who were in the know need to start filling in the blanks about this disturbing case. They would expect no less from Democrats.