House Speaker Dennis Hastert testified Tuesday before an ethics subcommittee investigating conflicting accounts of his handling of complaints about a Republican congressman’s suggestive messages to underage male congressional pages.
The scandal over former Florida Rep. Mark Foley’s sexually explicit electronic communications with teenage pages and House leaders’ handling of reports of inappropriate conduct have threatened political support for the speaker and reverberated through the midterm election campaign.
The testimony from Hastert and two of his top aides–one testified Monday and the other began his testimony immediately after Hastert–indicated the panel may be wrapping up its investigation. But it is unclear whether the ethics committee will issue its report before the Nov. 7 elections.
Need `to move quickly’
Speaking briefly to reporters from a statement after his testimony, Hastert said he told the panel “that they needed to move quickly to get to the bottom of this issue, including who knew about the sexually explicit messages and when they knew about it.”
Hastert, who testified behind closed doors for just under three hours, added that he answered investigators’ questions “to the best of my ability.”
Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said the speaker would not answer any questions about his testimony.
Republican officials said confidence in Hastert, an Illinois Republican, has ebbed as the controversy over Foley has continued. Foley resigned last month. Though the party establishment concluded weeks ago that an ouster of Hastert before the election would be counterproductive, Republican officials privately indicated it would be difficult for Hastert to hold on to his leadership post afterward, even if the party retains the majority.
At least one key Hastert aide recently explored potential new employment, according to a source familiar with the talks.
The contradictions between the public accounts offered by Hastert and his staff, and those given by other congressional officials–who have spoken publicly about warnings that Foley was behaving inappropriately toward pages–is a major focus of the committee’s probe.
Hastert has said he learned of Foley’s suggestive communications only as they became public Sept. 29.
But the House Republicans’ national campaign chief, Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, who testified before the committee earlier in the day, has said he warned Hastert of inappropriate conduct by Foley last spring.
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House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) also has said he informed Hastert last spring but the speaker assured him the matter had been “handled.”
Hastert has said he does not recall either conversation.
His staff has put out a timeline of events indicating his office received a complaint during fall 2005 about e-mails Foley sent to a former Louisiana page asking the boy for a photo and what he would like for his birthday. But the office’s timeline indicates that the matter was handled by Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Stokke and Counsel Ted van der Meid without informing Hastert or Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer.
The aides said they referred the matter to then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl, a Republican patronage appointee, who together with House Page Board Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) met privately with Foley to ask him to cease contact with pages.
Earlier warning?
Another inconsistency to be resolved by investigators involves a claim by former Foley Chief of Staff Kirk Fordham that he warned Palmer of Foley’s inappropriate behavior several years ago, indicating Hastert’s office had an earlier warning.
In a written statement, Palmer denied the claim, saying, “What Kirk Fordham said did not happen.” But he has otherwise kept publicly silent.
Another congressman has indicated he provided a warning even earlier. Retiring Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who was chairman of the page board at the time, said he received a complaint of a suggestive e-mail to a former page during either 2000 or 2001. He said he referred the matter to Trandahl.
Palmer testified more than six hours Monday. Stokke began testifying immediately after Hastert and refused to comment after emerging five hours later.
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