The problem the GOP — and House Speaker Dennis Hastert — has with the Foley teen page email scandal has just gotten a few notches worse with this story from the The Washington Post:
A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley’s inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe’s press secretary, Korenna Cline.
The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley’s behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), became aware of “over-friendly” e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board.
It also means the GOP and Hastert are akin to a fisherman who is out in the middle of the sea and tries to plug a leak in his boat, only to see new and bigger ones emerge so rapidly that he can’t stop the sinking boat.
It further means the news media is going to have a field day — and White House and Congressional Republican strategists an unhappy day — later this week when President George Bush and White House Press Secetary Tony Snow attend a fundraiser for Hastert. Photos will be all over newspaper pages and on cable. And if the press is banned, that will itself become a (quite legitimate) story. What will be the message sent to disgruntled voters? The President stands with Dennis “So Low In The Polls He Has To Worry About Sniffing Dogs” Hastert.
A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe’s involvement said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted. But Cline denied the source’s characterization, saying only that the messages had made the former page feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she said, “corrective action” was taken. Cline said she has not yet determined whether that action went beyond Kolbe’s confrontation with Foley.
The bottom line is: news stories have a shelf life where they emerge, grow and then begin to recede. This one is still growing.
And the GOP strategy of hanging tough with Hastert and asking what Nancy Pelosi knew about it is unlikely to stem profuse political bleeding that requires Grey’s Anatomy — but after the election in November could require a political CSI.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.