MN-01 Gutknecht's October 12 Guest: More on Boehner's knowledge of the Foley scandal

The Strib picks up a New York Times article on the Foley scandal in "GOP leaders kept quiet about e-mails." The article contains more about House Majority Leader John Boehner's role.

According to a Facebook, Gil Gutknecht's campaign will be bringing in Boehner on October 12 to campaign for Gutknecht at the Minnesota State-Mankato campus. The Facebook invite touts Boehner's leadership and commitment to reforming Congress.

Is this what the Gutknecht campaign has in mind as an example of leadership and congressional reform:

Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mails between Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and a teenage page, but kept the matter secret, GOP lawmakers said Saturday.

The revelations set off a political uproar with Democrats and some Republicans calling for a full investigation of Foley, who resigned abruptly Friday over the inappropriate e-mails, and whether House leaders did enough to look into them. Republican leaders sought late Saturday to detail how they had handled the case, which threatened to expand into intense turmoil for the party.

Among those who became aware of the e-mails between Foley and the 16-year-old page were Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader, and Rep. Thomas Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Both men said their offices learned of the e-mails months ago from Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who sponsored the page.

And later in the article there's this:

Reynolds became the second senior House Republican to say that Hastert has known of Foley's contacts for months. Boehner told the Washington Post on Friday that he learned in late spring of inappropriate e-mails and that he promptly told Hastert, who appeared to know already of the concerns. Hours later, Boehner contacted the Post to say he could not be sure he had spoken with Hastert.

Now that we think about it, southern Minnesota should see more of the GOP House leadership in action. The way Boehner's story has rapidly changed is an eye-opener. The Chicago Tribune reports in "Why did Foley keep child-protection job?":

Another difficult aspect of the story is how the House Republican leadership dealt with Foley. According to a story in the Washington Post, House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) at the very least knew about Foley's "inappropriate contact" with a minor months ago:

"House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy."

So Boehner, at the very least, knew about the "contact" between Foley and the page. (The posting was revised to change the sentence: "So Boehner, at the very least, knew about the 'inappropriate contact.' " The sentence was changed to what now appears at start of this paragraph. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner didn't know about "inappropriate contact" between Foley and the teenager, thus the change.)

Crooks and Liars has more at "Foley’s Sex scandal continues: Boehner knew too."

SHOCKED! (YOUR WINNINGS, SIR)
CNN reports that Bush is "as shocked as everyone else' at Foley charges."

And after knowing about Foley's inappropriate contact for months, how does Boehner and the house leadership respond? The CNN article reports:

In a joint statement, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Ohio, said: "The improper communications between Congressman Mark Foley and former House congressional pages is unacceptable and abhorrent. It is an obscene breach of trust. His immediate resignation must now be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system."

The scandal comes just weeks before the November 7 midterm elections. Republicans are hurriedly trying to find someone to replace Foley. (Watch how the handling of the scandal puts the GOP on the defensive -- 2:40 )

IS BOEHNER A BUST?
So far, only 13 people invited to the grand event plan via Facebook to show up. Yep, and 80 Facebook members were invited, which is doing pretty good considering that the Students for Gutknecht Facebook Group only has 61 members.

Over 700 students have signed up for Tim Walz's Facebook group.

CHRIS CARNEY ON BOEHNER AND HASTERT VISITS
The Wege sent a link to the Chris Carney campaign, which is asking GOP Rep. Don Sherwood to cancel fundraising with Boehner and Hastert in "Republican Leaders Cover Up Sexual Predator, Sherwood Should Cancel Fundraisers"

Clarks Summit, PA – Chris Carney’s campaign today called on Don Sherwood to immediately cancel his upcoming fundraisers with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, in light of reports that both Republican leaders knew about Congressman Mark Foley’s cyber-molestation of young boys and did nothing about it.

“Holding happy hour fundraisers with people who cover-up the cyber-molestation of children should be below even the questionable morals of Don Sherwood,” said Carney campaign manager Andrew Eldredge-Martin. “Sherwood should immediately cancel his upcoming fundraisers with Hastert and Boehner. Don Sherwood has already brought Washington’s values back to the district, now he wants to bring a depraved cover-up home.”

OLLIE OX UPDATE:
ABC's The Blotter reports that "GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001":

Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page.

Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office.

Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."

Loraditch's motive in speaking out? ABC reports:

Loraditch says that some of the pages who "interacted" with Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress, they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution.

Loraditch runs the alumni association for the U.S. House Page Program, and he is deeply concerned about the future effects this scandal could have on a program that he sees as a valuable educational experience for teens.