Reuters - A committee responsible for enforcing ethics in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday began investigating a sex scandal that has enveloped Republicans struggling to keep control of Congress in the November 7 election.
A committee responsible for enforcing ethics in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday began investigating a sex scandal that has enveloped Republicans struggling to keep control of Congress in the November 7 election.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, under fire for his handling of early warnings about the behavior of former Republican Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) that led to unwanted advances on teenage boys, vowed to cooperate and refused to yield to critics who demanded he resign.
"The bottom line is I am taking responsibility for it because ultimately the buck stops here," Hastert, the top House Republican, told a news conference in his district of Batavia, Illinois. "I'm sorry that this happened. We are now trying to correct the problem."
Hastert acknowledged that Republicans could have better handled the Foley matter, which involved the lawmaker sending sexually inappropriate electronic messages to male teenage congressional assistants.
But Hastert said he had done nothing wrong and would seek re-election as speaker in January, if Republicans retain control of the House.
The senior House Democrat, Nancy Pelosi of California, said she was pleased the ethics probe had begun. "The young people, their parents, and the public deserve answers," she said. "Those who covered up Mark Foley's behavior must be held accountable."
Republicans have denied that they tried to hide Foley's indiscretions.
The FBI is also examining whether Foley broke any federal laws, but has not yet decided whether to launch a full-blown investigation into his actions.
With polls beginning to show the public is taking notice, the political firestorm has rocked Congress and buoyed Democratic hopes that they win control of the House as well as the Senate in next month's election.
The furor has caused strains and second-guessing among House Republicans, many of whom were taking a wait-and-see approach about Hastert's fate a week after the scandal broke.
FOUR DOZEN SUBPOENAS
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee approved about four dozen subpoenas as it looks into Foley's contact with congressional assistants known as pages and tries to determine whether there were mistakes or a cover-up.
"We pledge to you that our investigation will go wherever the evidence leads us," Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican, told a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record) of California, the committee's top Democrat, said the panel was "looking at weeks not months." But there was no guarantee it would be done before the elections.
Rep. Judy Biggert (news, bio, voting record), a Illinois Republican on the ethics panel, said: "We're looking at a great number of people, not one specific person. First we have to establish the facts. Did someone do a cover-up. Who knew what, who did it and why?"
Hastert announced a telephone tip-line for current and former congressional pages to report relevant information about Foley or "any other concerns."
The White House reaffirmed its support of Hastert, who has helped push much of President George W. Bush's agenda through Congress over the past six years.
Several House Republicans have said they learned of Foley's e-mail to a 16-year-old former page several months ago, but the boy's parents asked that the matter not be pursued. They said they did not know about separate, sexually explicit messages to teens until last week when they were first publicly disclosed and Foley promptly resigned.
Foley had convinced colleagues that his e-mail to the page, which included a request for a photo, was innocent. He was told to stop such behavior, but also encouraged to run for a seventh term.
Hastert's chief of staff denied claims by a former congressional aide that the speaker's office had been told about Foley's behavior three years ago. That aide has been quoted as giving conflicting statements about what he knew.
Hastert has said he was unaware of overtly lurid e-mails until they were made public.
While the House Ethics Committee has no authority over Foley because he is no longer in office, it will examine who in Congress was aware of the allegations and what they did about it.
(Additional reporting by Michael Conlon, Susan Cornwell, Donna Smith, and Matt Spetalnick)
10-05-2006, 07:50 PM
