N.H. Representatives Condemn Foley, Split on Leadership
Foley Comment
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
10-3-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 –New Hampshire’s two Republican Representatives, Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley, expressed their disgust Tuesday with the conduct of former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.
“The decisions and actions of Mark Foley that have been brought to light over the past couple days are disgusting and inexcusable,” Bass said in a statement.
Bradley, in his own statement, also said he was “disgusted” by Foley’s behavior, calling his electronic communications with former congressional pages “inappropriate and lewd.”
Foley resigned Friday after revelations that he exchanged online messages, some of them sexually explicit, with former congressional pages, at least one of whom was a 16-year-old male.
Pages are high school students who work in the House and Senate for one semester. The highly competitive program brings young men and women to Washington to work in the Capitol, calling members to votes, running errands and acting as couriers. While here they live in a dorm and attend a school for pages.
Despite criticism by both Democrats and Republicans of the House Republican leadership, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, Bass said he was standing behind the leaders.
“I have to take the Speaker’s word [that he had no knowledge of the conversations],” Bass said in an interview. “Why would they cover it up?” he asked.
Bradley neither supported nor condemned the Speaker, saying only that “if the FBI or the House Ethics Committee determines that there was misconduct by any member of Congress or affiliated staff, they should resign immediately.”
A Washington Times editorial on Tuesday called for Hastert to resign.
“House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once,” the editorial said. “Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week’s revelations — or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away.”
Bass and Bradley said they fully supported the House’s unanimous decision Friday to investigate Foley’s actions and the House’s knowledge of his actions.
“Getting to the bottom of this quickly, I think, is a great idea,” Bass said.
As for how the scandal will affect the GOP’s chances of retaining control of the House after the November elections, Bass said: “Anything could happen at this point. Clearly, Mark Foley’s seat is in jeopardy.”
Getting the issue resolved quickly, he added, is in the best interest of his party’s retention of Congress.
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