Media Pundit

As the second full week of Foleygate begins, the questions remain: Who else was involved in the cover-up and will they be held accountable? Something tells me there will be several more revelations this week.

The bipartisan ethics panel met Thursday for the first time, approving nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents regarding improper conduct between lawmakers and current and former pages and who may have known about it.

If it turns out, as it likely will, that Democrats did not in fact know about this, Republicans may find themselves wishing they hadn't pushed the "who knew about this" meme so hard. Below I've listed some of the key players (thus far), and their general involvement in the matter.

Mark Foley

Kirk Fordham

Dennis Hastert:

tried to blame the Democrats and the news media for leaking the story but then accepted responsibility. He's resisted pressure to resign his speaker's post over his handling of the scandal. Also, more than half of those surveyed in a Newsweek poll released this weekend believe Hastert tried to cover up news of Foley's messages to the pages.

John Shimkus :

Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other House leaders over how they handled the scandal.

The Democrat running against incumbent U.S. Rep. John Shimkus says fallout from the congressional page scandal has breathed new life into his campaign in southern and central Illinois.

Centralia Councilman Danny Stover said most people who have contributed to his campaign in the past week were angry over how Shimkus - who is chairman of the board that oversees the page program - handled the matter.

Stover's campaign Web site has gotten more hits since the scandal broke than it has during the rest of the campaign combined.

Tom Reynolds:

On July 27, 2006, the NRCC, which Reynolds chairs, accepted an unusually large contribution of $100,000 from Foley. Hard to imagine something of that size just slipping past the chairman. Reynolds is now in something approaching open war with the Speaker of the House amid recriminations over who knew what when.

Also:

His absence on the Sunday talk shows was particularly noticeable. Booked weeks ago for ABC's "This Week," he confirmed his appearance on Wednesday. By Saturday, his office cancelled without explanation and arranged for a substitute guest.

Jim Kolbe:

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.

Regardless of the specifics, the toll on the Republican party is just beginning to be seen.


Technorati tags: Mark+Foley / Dennis+Hastert / Kirk+Fordham / John+Shimkus / Jim+Kolbe / Tom+Reynolds / Foleygate

Posted by JN on 10.09.2006 at 6:12 AM | Permalink