Foley panel: GOP left pages vulnerable

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers and aides left male pages vulnerable to Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s improper sexual advances even though the first concerns surfaced more than a decade ago, the ethics committee said Friday in a report into an election-year scandal that convulsed the House.
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The committee said one witness testified that he warned one lawmaker, Illinois Rep. John Shimkus (news, bio, voting record), a year ago that he viewed Foley as a "ticking time bomb" who had been confronted repeatedly.

The panel said it found no evidence that any current lawmakers or aides violated any rules, and recommended no sanctions.

But it said it discovered a pattern of conduct on the part of many individuals "to remain willfully ignorant of the potential consequences" of Foley's conduct.

Speculating on the reason for their reluctance to act, the committee said:

"Some may have been concerned that raising the issue too aggressively might have risked exposing Rep. Foley's homosexuality.... There is some evidence that political considerations played a role in decisions that were made by persons in both parties."

The committee interviewed numerous witnesses, including House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, his top aides and other lawmakers.

The man who sparked the scandal was not among them, though. Foley received a subpoena, but his lawyer notified the committee the former lawmaker would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if compelled to testify. The committee dropped the matter.

Foley, R-Fla., hurriedly resigned his seat Sept. 29 after the existence of sexually explicit computer messages sent to teenage pages came to light.

He quickly entered an alcoholic treatment program.

But the scandal damaged Republicans politically, and raised questions about whether Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., or his aides had done enough to investigate reports of improper advances by Foley. The GOP lost control of the House in last month's elections in which several strategists said the virtual sex scandal played a part.

Florida authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether Foley broke any laws related to his communications with the teens. Federal authorities are also investigating.

The report found that Hastert was likely told about Foley's e-mails by two Republican leaders last spring.

Hastert has said he doesn't recall the conversations. But both Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York have said they informed the speaker last spring.

"The speaker's reported statement in response to Majority Leader Boehner that the matter 'has been taken care of' is some evidence that the speaker was aware of some concern regarding Rep. Foley's conduct" even prior to the spring conversation, the report said.

Rep. Doc Hastings (news, bio, voting record), R-Wash., and Howard Berman, D-Calif., the committee's leaders, said the report reflected the bipartisan conclusions of a four-member investigative panel.

"This is not the jury-rigged result of a series of compromises but rather the right report on this subject," Berman said at a news conference in the Capitol.

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061208/ap_ ... ess_ethics