AFP - A US House of Representatives ethics panel launched an investigation into a sex scandal that has rocked President George W. Bush's Republican party ahead of key elections next month.
A US House of Representatives ethics panel launched an investigation into a sex scandal that has rocked President George W. Bush's Republican party ahead of key elections next month.
The top Republican in the House, Dennis Hastert, apologized for the handling of lurid sexual messages sent by former party lawmaker Mark Foley to teenaged pages in Congress. But Hastert again rejected calls for his resignation.
With the Republicans in a desperate battle to keep control of Congress in the November 7 election, mounting questions have been asked about when the Republican leadership found out about Foley's behaviour and why it did not act earlier.
The House investigation comes on top of criminal investigations launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Justice Department and the authorities in Florida, where Foley comes from.
The bipartsian House Ethics Committee inquiry said it had ordered about four dozen subpoenas for individuals and documents, including direct testimony from Congress members.
The ethics committee chairman Representative Richard 'Doc' Hastings, a Republican, said all of Congress had been "appalled" at reports of the suggestive messages sent by Foley to the teenaged boy.
Representative Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record), the ranking Democrat on the committee, said lawmakers wanted the investigation finished in "weeks."
The committee will investigate Foley's sexual overtures to teenage male aides over several years, and whether Republican leaders properly handled the ensuing scandal, House Ethics committee chairman Doc Bremer said.
"Like all Americans, we are both appalled at the revelations of highly improper communication between former Representative Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) and a young man who came to know Mr. Foley while working here in the Capitol as a congressional page," Hastings said.
"Simply put, the American people, and especially the parents of all current and former pages, are entitled to know this situation was handled. And we are determined to answer their questions," he said.
House Speaker Hastert, who has come under fire for his handling of the scandal, promised to fully cooperate with the investigation and admitted errors had been made handling the scandal.
"I'm deeply sorry this has happened," he said at a press conference Thursday at his stronghold in Illinois.
"The bottom line is that we're taking responsibility, because ultimately, as someone has said in Washington before, 'the buck stops here'."
He added: "Any person who is found guilty of improper conduct involving sexual contact or communication with a page should immediately resign, be fired, or be subjected to a vote of expulsion," said Hastert.
"Anyone who had knowledge of the vile instant messages should have turned them over immediately so that our House pages could be protected," he added.
"There are reports that a Congressional aide was a source. The committee should help find out who had the messages and why they were not turned over sooner.
He said he has asked the committee also draw up guidelines for future communication and contact between lawmakers and pages.
Hastert also announced Thursday that the House had established a phone "tip line" which pages can phone to report any information they might have about the Foley scandal, or any other complaints about the page program
Hastert insisted he had only learned of the "explicit language" in the messages last Friday and the the Republican party had acted immediately. But he acknowledged that Foley had been warned in the past about a previous message.
"Could we have done it better? Could the Page Board have handled it better? In retrospect, probably, yes. But at that time, what we knew and what we acted upon was what we had."
Hastert insisted he would not stand down and that he expected to win in the November 7 election and to run again as speaker. "But our members ultimately make that decision."
The speaker has faced speculation about his future since the Washington Times, a leading conservative voice, called for his resignation this week.
10-05-2006, 05:30 PM
