U.S. House putting inquiry into page sex scandal on fast track
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WASHINGTON -- A House ethics committee investigation into a sex scandal involving teenage male congressional pages will take "weeks, not months," and the panel already has issued dozens of subpoenas for witnesses, members said yesterday.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday announced that he wouldn't step down from his leadership position, rebutting claims that his office knew before late last week about inappropriate instant messages that former Rep. Mark Foley had sent to pages, and that the speaker hadn't done enough to protect teens who come from across the nation to work on Capitol Hill.
"I'm deeply sorry this has happened, and the bottom line is we're taking responsibility," Mr. Hastert said at news conference in his home district in Batavia, Ill. "I learned of this last Friday. That's the first time I heard of the explicit language."
Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican, left office that same day, after he was confronted with texts of his Internet exchanges. His resignation has dominated the nation's political stage ever since, just as members of Congress are heading out on the campaign trail and as Republicans are trying to maintain their slim House majority in next month's mid-term election.
All 10 ethics committee members -- including Pennsylvania Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods -- rushed back from the congressional recess to Washington yesterday for a two-hour, closed-door meeting. They have formed an investigative subcommittee that will look into how the scandal unfolded and who, besides Mr. Foley, may have been aware of the particulars.
The Justice Department earlier this week ordered House officials to preserve all records related to Mr. Foley's electronic correspondence with teenagers. The request for records preservation is often followed by search warrants and subpoenas, and signal that investigators are moving closer to a criminal investigation.
Ethics committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said he and the ranking Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman of California, will head the House's internal probe, using a team of experienced investigators. They have already approved "four dozen" subpoenas for witnesses and documents, although they declined to identify any of those witnesses, saying only that the list includes members of Congress and staffers.
"The American people -- and especially the parents of all current and former pages -- are entitled to know how this situation was handled, and we are determined to answer their questions," Mr. Hastings said. "Congressman Berman and I will do so as quickly as possible, and we pledge to you that our investigation will go wherever the evidence takes us."
The committee decided against appointing an independent counsel, despite criticisms that the House has been ineffective in investigating its other recent scandals, including connections between some members and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"This is the last straw," said Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause. "The apparent cover-up by House leaders of a member of Congress who was sexually exploiting children is proof that the House is unable and incapable of policing itself."
Ethics committee members, who usually decline to discuss their internal discussions publicly, took to the microphones yesterday because of intense interest in the Foley case. Mr. Doyle, a Democrat, said the public disclosure was "unprecedented" in his four years as a committee member.
"We want people to know that this investigation is under way. It's beginning immediately," he said in an interview in his Washington office. "It's what did people know, when did they know it, and what did they do about it."
The panel doesn't have prosecutorial powers, but it can issue subpoenas to anyone involved in the case, including Mr. Foley and any members who may have had knowledge of the former congressman's interactions with pages. It can also recommend that the full House remove members who have committed serious ethical breaches.
The scandal has shocked Pennsylvania lawmakers who knew Mr. Foley. "He was a hard-working congressman," said Ms. Hart, who served alongside Mr. Foley on the House's powerful Ways and Means Committee. "Members are outraged. The public is outraged, and that's justifiable."
She said the ethics committee would move quickly to punish members who knew about Mr. Foley's actions, but she said she needed to learn more details about the involvement of House leaders, including Mr. Hastert.
On Wednesday, a House leadership aide who was a former chief of staff for Mr. Foley said Mr. Hastert's office had been aware of problems with his one-time boss as far back as 2003. The speaker's press secretary denied that claim.
"I have no way of knowing the accuracy of those statements," Ms. Hart said.
Mr. Doyle said he, too, wants to learn more before forming judgments. "Clearly, if any member of Congress had information, it should have been immediately brought to the leadership," he said. "If the facts show that [Mr. Hastert] knew about this and did nothing, then he should step down."
The speaker has endured withering criticism since last week's revelations, including a scathing editorial this week in the conservative Washington Times newspaper that called for him to resign. Many of his fellow House Republicans have stayed quiet, but some have expressed deep concerns about how the situation was initially handled.
Mr. Hastert yesterday abruptly changed the tactics he has followed since the scandal broke. As recently as Wednesday, the speaker blamed Democrats and insisted that he had done nothing wrong
Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said the speaker has not received a subpoena from the ethics committee. "If the ethics committee asks him to [testify], of course [he will]," Mr. Bonjean said.
President Bush has voiced support for the speaker as he has been crossing the country to help fellow Republicans campaign for re-election. The Foley story has hampered his party's efforts to focus the public debate on issues of national security and fighting terrorism.
"As people get ready for the election, they're going to ask themselves [about] what's important to them -- safety, security," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said yesterday.
But lurid accounts of Internet sex chats likely will continue to capture the public's attention as the multiple inquiries move forward. Ms. Hart said her Western Pennsylvania constituents have flooded her office with calls about it.
Mr. Foley has checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility in Florida. Through his lawyer, he has publicly revealed that he is gay and that, as a youth, he was molested by a clergyman, but he has denied any sexual contact with minors.
Negative fallout for Republicans struggling to keep control of Congress was apparent in the latest AP-Ipsos poll, conducted this week after the Foley revelations surfaced. About half of likely voters said recent disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important in their vote next month, and Democrats enjoyed a nearly 2-to-1 advantage as the party better able to fight corruption.
In Atlanta, meanwhile, former page Tyson Vivyan, now 26, told The Associated Press that he received sexually suggestive computer messages in 1997, years before the communications exposed last week, from an anonymous sender who turned out to be Mr. Foley.
Mr. Foley's attorney, David Roth, declined to comment.
Mr. Hastert announced that a tip line had been activated for people to call if they have information about Mr. Foley or any problems with the page program. The number is 866-348-0481.
First Published October 6, 2006 12:00 am
