No Ethics Panel Report Before Election

AP ^ | 11/2/6 | LARRY MARGASAK

[SmithL]

WASHINGTON -- The House ethics committee has been working hard to determine if Republicans covered up ex-Rep. Mark Foley's come-ons to former male pages, but even 12-hour work days won't bring conclusions by Election Day.

The lack of a report leaves voters to sort through conflicting Republican accounts in deciding whether GOP leaders failed to protect teenagers in their care.

Foley became overly friendly with male pages when they served as errand-runners for lawmakers and — after they left Congress — sent some of them inappropriate e-mails and lurid instant messages.

It won't be easy for voters to find answers without the ethics committee's help.

Speaker Dennis Hastert's staff could have learned of inappropriate e-mails as early as 2002 and as late as 2005, depending on whose statements voters believe. The salacious instant messages didn't surface until a month ago.

Also, two House leaders said they told Hastert about Foley's questionable e-mails last spring, but the speaker said he didn't learn of them until late September.

A four-member investigative subcommittee interviewed some two dozen witnesses in closed sessions. Witnesses were still being questioned earlier this week, leaving no time for the panel to digest hours of interviews and write a report by Election Day.

Foley, R-Fla., who is in an alcohol treatment program, resigned in late September after he was confronted with some of his lurid messages.

[SmithL]

What did the Democrats know, and when did they know it?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[The House ethics committee has been working hard...]

This obviously to make up for their lack of activity since 1992.

[msnimje]

Nobody ever presented anything illegal and I am sure they would have if they had it.

This is just another case of Gay Republicans being guilty of something not illegal to Gay Democrats (i.e. Gerry Studds).

[Defender2]

Democrats sure know how to hide their:

http://www.cpusa.org/
and
http://www.dsausa.org/

Ties.

[Txsleuth]

I am thinking the same thing...

That the DEMS should be the ones pushing for this report to be out...to smear the GOP even more.

But, I betcha they KNOW that some dems are going to be caught in the same net...

[Txsleuth]

PING

[Question Liberal Authority]

The lack of a report leaves voters to sort through conflicting Republican accounts in deciding whether GOP leaders failed to protect teenagers in their care.

Maybe if we had a news media that would objectively report facts, they'd already know.

[penelopesire]

thanks for the ping. I have to admit to being a bit 'crestfallen' after everything I turned up a month ago in relation to this crap. Not to mention the bombshells that others turned up as well!!

My guess and hope would be that it will blow up big after the election and for some reason the DEMS DON'T WANT IT OUT YET!! WHY ELSE HAVE THEY LET IT DROP WHEN IT WAS PAYING THEM SO WELL IN VOTES(according to the LSM)??

[Txsleuth]

I am sure that the dems would be yelling very loudly by now, if they really wanted this report done...

I seem to remember the weekend that they came out and announced that they were going to start hearings...the main question was whether they would be done by the election...

Why haven't any of the dem candidates been asking about this in their stump speeches??? As far as I know..none have...

Very odd....unless they have been told NOT to ask..

[penelopesire]

"Very odd....unless they have been told NOT to ask.."

Indeed..and couple that with Pelosi and Harry Reid's MIA....lol

[KoRn]

Yay the Foley story is back! I have to say, this was very effective in derailing the Republicans. At the time this whole thing was unleashed by the libs, the republicans had some real momentum working, and a dem collapse was in sight. It all went to hell in 48 hours and the republicans haven't got back to where they were before this happened.

Foley should have been tossed from office a year or two ago.

[penelopesire]

Foley is not back...JOHN KERRY IS STILL ON THE NEWS...lol!

What will 'BE NEWS' in the end is how the LSM hide the facts of this case that went beyond FOLEY and right into the heart of the Democrat Party,the 'Gay Mafia' and ELECTED FLORIDA 'OFFICIALS' of the DEMOCRAT KIND!!

[Intolerant in NJ]

No Ethics Panel Report Before Election...maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised if some anonymous 'rat staffer leaked a "preliminary" or "interim" report detailing how badly 'pubs had handled the whole affair by...say...tomorrow afternoon, just in time for all the Sunday talk shows.....

[chaos_5]

Here's the bottom line for me. Our guy talked dirty to 16yr old boys. There guys have sex with them. End of argument. The only question that remains is this.

Why is the age of consent in DC 16?

Is it so having sex with page boys and teen hookers isn't statutory rape? I can only speculate, and I don't like what comes to mind!

[Rembrandt]

Sorry Al AP, John F'n Kerry is on stage at the moment. There's no room for Foley - that act is over.

The spotlight on Kerry is rather hot isn't it, Al AP?

[penelopesire]

"but I wouldn't be surprised if some anonymous 'rat staffer leaked a "preliminary" or "interim" report detailing how badly 'pubs had handled the whole affair by...say...tomorrow afternoon, just in time for all the Sunday talk shows....."

aIN'T GONNA HAPPEN....BECAUSE THE DEMS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORY THAT COULD BLOW THEIR WHOLE PARTY UP! BE PATIENT..THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT AND FOLKS WILL GO TO JAIL!

[Intolerant in NJ]

.......BECAUSE THE DEMS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORY THAT COULD BLOW THEIR WHOLE PARTY UP...doesn't matter - any "report" leaked now would be a total fabrication to return Foley to the headlines and influence the election and would be quickly forgotten or buried after next Tuesday, when the real investigation could continue forward.......

[penelopesire]

I see what you are saying, but I don't think the dems will 'leak' anything at this point. I believe they know what is headed down the pike when everything comes out.

[Intolerant in NJ]

I see what you are saying, but I don't think the dems will 'leak' anything at this point...turns out they didn't have to - the usual Friday-before-the-election dirty trick this year was taken care of by the Rev. Haggard flap ("He is a spiritual adviser to President Bush", according to the MSM)...
I hope your hopes about the story eventually blowing the 'rats up turn out to be confirmed.....