NBC: Feds Probe GOP Rep's Trip with House Pages - From TPMMuckraker

[WillyT]

<snip>

Is a second GOP congressman getting drawn into the House page scandal? NBC reports:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News.

A spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington said that the U.S. attorney in Arizona has started a "preliminary assessment" of the trip, after an unidentified source made allegations about the congressman's behavior on the expedition. . . .

One participant, who requested anonymity, said he was uncomfortable with the attention Kolbe paid to one of the former pages. He was "creeped out by it," he said, adding that there was a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back by Kolbe. . . .

<snip>

Link: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001799.php

Drip, drip, drip...

:shrug:

[BOSSHOG]

1. Lets check with Tony Snow - surely this is just much ado about nothing

[DRoseDARs]

5. One congressman, two. It's just a number... n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I read that on MSNBC.com, but I don't believe there's much there.

It was a trip taken with a bunch of other adults.

<snip> Meanwhile, a Justice Department spokesman tells NBC News that federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary inquiry into a camping trip retiring Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe (R) took 10 years ago with two teenage congressional pages. The spokesman says the US Attorney in Arizona has started a "preliminary assessment" of the trip, after an unidentified source made allegations about the Congressman's behavior on it. As NBC News first reported, Kolbe took a trip down the Grand Canyon in July 1996 with a group that included two male 17-year-old pages who had recently left the congressional page program. National Park Service employees were also on the three-day trip, along with several Kolbe staffers and the congressman's sister. Kolbe's office denies anything improper happened on the trip.


http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

[Crankie Avalon]

3. That's just the Republican way of being "friendly." eom

[janx]

4. Kolbe is a moderate who did some whistle blowing on Foley.

The trip was a camping trip in which he, some house pages, park rangers, and some others went to the Grand Canyon. (It sounded like fun, frankly.)

It would not be surprising if this is payback from the GOP. Also, IIRC, Kolbe did not support the Repub running for Congress in Arizona.

He's retiring at the end of his term.

Sounds like a GOP hit job on an outwardly, OUT, whistle blower who does not currently play well with the GOP. And it's also homophobic in the extreme.

[CoffeeCat]

6. If Iraq is a comma...

...then this camping trip must be the colon.