Today, the editorial pages of the Washington Times are demanding the Speaker Dennis Hastert step down. They are basing this on the so-called "fact" that the pages were warning each other for years to stay away from Foley.
His aberrant, predatory -- and possibly criminal -- behavior was an open secret among the pages who were his prey. The evidence was strong enough long enough ago that the speaker should have relieved Mr. Foley of his committee responsibilities contingent on a full investigation to learn what had taken place, whether any laws had been violated and what action, up to and including prosecution, were warranted by the facts. This never happened.
However, the page making this charge that the pages were "warned" about Foley is now backpeddling from this statement.
The page that originally made the accusation about the "warning" is now saying this-
"Firstly, as to the ABC "Warned" story, while I may have inadvertently used the word, "warned," in communication, I can assure you it was not intended. The fact of the matter is in an informal situation a supervisor mentioned that Foley was a bit odd or flaky and did not connote by tone or otherwise that he should be avoided.
"Secondly as to talking out in general, . . . I don't think anyone can argue that protecting kids, pages, or whomever from sexual predators is anything but the most important of this whole saga. Nothing comes in front of the safety of the page program, not the page program, a member of congress, no one.
"Thirdly, I have stressed several key points in my contact with media that all situations with Mr. Foley occurred after we had finished our service as pages. That if anything had happed while we were in Washington, it would have been dealt with. That I have full faith and trust that any of the supervisors and staff we worked with would have properly dealt with any situation like the current one. That the page program is one of the most wonderful and educational experiences a youth can have.
"Fourthly, although not all of you know people who have had these horrible conversation with Foley, I do. And frankly that gives me all the more reason to speak out. . . .
"Finally, if i have hurt or offended anyone, I am sorry. And I love my page friends and I cherish my relationships with the page program staff, however fracture some of this may have made them. I want you all to know that I truly believe that I'm doing the best that I can do."
The other page said most pages are angry at Loraditch's comments and that the page program did its best to ensure the safety of pages, with strict rules and curfews.
We also find out today, from the Washington Post that the FBI did receive the original set of emails and the FBI stated:
Officials from the liberal-leaning group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said yesterday that they received copies of the Louisiana e-mails on July 21 and turned them over to the FBI the same day. Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, said she spoke with a special agent in the Washington field office, and she questioned yesterday why the FBI did not investigate Foley weeks ago.
An FBI official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the field office concluded that the e-mails "did not rise to the level of criminal activity." The bureau announced Sunday that it would begin a preliminary investigation into Foley's more explicit electronic exchanges with teenagers.
One thing we know for sure, we do not have all of the FACTS of the story. What we currently have is the media, Democrats and Republicans hurling accusations all over town.
It is the responsibility of the Washington Times to accurately report the facts. Instead they have joined the hysterics and are demanding the resignation of Hastert, even though they have no idea what the facts of this case really are.
It is absolutely pathetic that the editorial board at the Washington Times is demanding the resignation of Hastert based on incomplete and inaccurate information.
Perhaps Hastert does need to resign, but I want the real facts to decide this, not the hysterical free-for-all that we have going on right now.
In the meantime, Foley was allowed to run away to a rehab center, while everyone else is left behind to answer for his actions.
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