Ex-House Clerk May Be a Key in Foley’s Case--Jeff Trandahl

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/us/politics/18trandahl.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print


October 18, 2006
Ex-House Clerk May Be a Key in Foley’s Case
By JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — In the days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as elaborate battle plans were drawn to protect members of Congress and preserve government continuity, Jeff Trandahl, the clerk of the House, did something else. He obtained a commercial driver’s license.

Mr. Trandahl wanted to be ready for the next emergency. Of all his responsibilities in Congress, a priority was safeguarding the high school students who work as pages. He arranged for buses to be parked nearby, so pages could leave their dormitories or the Capitol. If needed, he would drive them to safety.

His concern for the pages highlights the protection provided to the teenagers in their time here. But it also raises piercing questions about how years of whispers over a congressman’s unwelcome advances could escape public notice until being exposed on a television news program.

Mr. Trandahl, a commanding behind-the-scenes player on Capitol Hill before stepping down last year, was little known outside Congress. But he has emerged as a central figure in the case of how the House Republican leadership dealt with the conduct of Mark Foley, the former representative whose sexually charged messages to Congressional pages have shaken the midterm elections.

[whistle]

1. Can Bush's new torture bill apply to Mr. Trandahl to get the goods

...on other congressmen as well? Every cloud may have its silver lining as the saying goes.

[Binka]

2. Trandahl Is Going To Blow This Thing Sky High

Le Cage Aux Foley is coming to a town near you!

[wakeme2008]

3. It will be interesting to see if they put this Repug under oath

or will allow him to answer questions without any legal problems.... My guess is no oath