WP: Staffer Cites Earlier Role by Hastert's Office

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601888.html

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's chief of staff confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his inappropriate social contact with male pages well before the speaker said aides in his office took any action, a current congressional staff member with personal knowledge of Foley and his behavior with pages said yesterday.

The staff member said Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley's behavior toward pages. The alleged meeting occurred long before Hastert says aides in his office dispatched Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy.

The staff member's account buttresses the position of Foley's one-time chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who said earlier this week that he had appealed to Palmer in 2003 or earlier to intervene, after Fordham's own efforts to stop Foley's behavior had failed. Fordham said Foley and Palmer, one of the most powerful figures in the House of Representatives, met within days to discuss the allegations.

Palmer said this week that the meeting Fordham described "did not happen." Timothy J. Heaphy, Fordham's attorney, said yesterday that Fordham is prepared to testify under oath that he had arranged the meeting and that both Foley and Palmer told him the meeting had taken place. Fordham spent more than three hours with the FBI on Thursday, and Heaphy said that on Friday he contacted the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to offer his client's cooperation.

"We are not preparing to cooperate. We are affirmatively seeking to," Heaphy said.

[Ecumenist]

1. Boy, I've been so entertained by their

pathetic attempts to continue to lie and rewrite history to exonerate themselves, I'm getting sick from the popcorn. Wonder what the next episode will reveal...


Stay tuned for the next episode of "GOODBOY, NOW TURN THE PAGE",when your villian will say:
"But you don't understand. I was testing them and showing them what to look out for. It was all a part of the testing I give certain "vunerable" young men to see if they understand what to watch out for. I'm doing this for the kids, protecting innocent minds from those ungodly liberal molesters trolling the net for good, upstanding and hot, er uhh...intelligent young men. The young men are most at risk because our young ladies save themselves, as good Christian girls are supposed to."

So, stay tuned, you do want to miss the next show!! We would say same time, same channel but things are breaking every few hours..just keep your eyes and ears open."

[rodeodance]

2. yes, the popcorn is real 'filling' after a bit.

[Jane Austin]

8. Somebody on Hardball or Countdown said tonight that the Pubs are

actually relieved a little tonight that nothing new has come out in the last 24 hours.

I guess they aren't counting the three new pages that have contacted ABC.

[rainbow4321]

9. Guess they are not believers in the saying

"Calm before the storm"

Maybe it's just whoever is digging up and releasing the info knows to wait til Monday's news cycle and not to do the Friday night dump like the repukes themselves are so fond of doing?

[daleo]

10. "We were just engaged in research" is another well worn ploy.

It might get trotted out too.

[blitzen]

3. looks like hastert and co. dumped the house clerk who was

trying to stop foley

[Supersedeas]

15. wouldn't want a lowly clerk to get in the way of the Bush Agenda, would we

[Erika]

4. This is getting so dirty

Let's toss the GOP, wash our hands, and restore America.

[fooj]

5. Good idea.

[cui bono]

6. I'm convinced this is an orchestrated coup of the Repub party...

from within. There's been highly visible Repubs saying that Dems need to be in control of at least the house if not the senate as well. I think they're sick of what BushCo has done to the party and they want it back.

[kurth]

7. Cook at 325 degrees for approximately 30 days or until fork tender

He's actually done now, but don't take him out yet.

[No Exit]

12. When the fat's trimmed off, enough'll be left for a leprechaun's lunch

...a small, anorexic leprechaun, that is...

[NVMojo]

11. I don't think everything there is to know about Foley or Hastert has come

out yet ...this is still the tip of the iceberg, IMHO.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I agree with you.

And the media won't back off from this, good thing. This really is reprehensible if Hastert knew this a few years ago and chose to ignore it to protect Foley. Even Bush* can't protect him, if this is the case, and the media gets ahold of this, and they will. It's a kind of feeding frenzy, which I usually hate, but it's only a good thing if this comes to light and exposes the hypocrisy. Even the mainstream media isn't backing off... so the voting public can't ignore this.:kick:

[goodhue]

13. Palmer is toast

[goodhue]

14. .