Reynolds to Hastert: I won’t play the sap for you
I’m sticking with the Maltese Falcon theme here. Via Daily Kos, Roll Call is reporting that Reynolds is trying to pin it back on the big man, Speaker Denny Hastert:
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) issued a statement Saturday in which he said that he had informed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) of allegations of improper contacts between then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and at least one former male page, contradicting earlier statements from Hastert.
GOP sources said Reynolds told Hastert earlier in 2006, shortly after the February GOP leadership elections. Hastert’s response to Reynolds’ warning remains unclear.
Update: the Washington Post has more:
With his statement, Reynolds, who is locked in a difficult reelection campaign, signaled he was unwilling to take the fall alone amid partisan attacks that were becoming increasingly vituperative. The Democratic National Committee yesterday issued a statement asking “Why Did Tom Reynolds Cover Up Congressman’s Sex Crimes?” It continued: “While the shocking [online] exchanges produced an immediate uproar that cost Congressman Foley his job, at least one member of the House Republican leadership had known about the situation for months and did nothing about it: . . . Reynolds.”
Republican insiders said Reynolds spoke out because he was angry that Hastert appeared willing to let him take the blame for the party leadership’s silence.
A House GOP leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said that Reynolds realizes he has taken a shot at his leader but that it is understandable.
“This is what happens when one member tries to throw another member under a bus,” the aide said.
Well said.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but does it seem strange that EVERYBODY decided to tell Denny Hastert? Not to defend Hastert, but was there no one else to go to besides him? Was there no one else in the chain of command?
Actually, the real problem with all of this is: if you see someone doing something illegal, the person you talk to is a cop, not a coworker. Saying that Dennie Hastert was supposed to take care of the situation is to prove that your electoral cowardice trumps moral rectitude.
The voters have a right to know this.
The whole thing is strange. I find it odd that the page board says they investigated it but that the lead Democrat on the board was never told about it. That’s scandlous in and of itself.
Remember that Hastert is a former high-school teacher and wrestling coach. One would think that he’d know from experience that those emails indicated something far worse under the surface, but he chose to do nothing.
It gets better…I saw this on MyDD…
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?26940205819
Check out the top of this page….on May 10th Tom Reynold’s PAC gave $5000 to Foley’s campaign.
This is well after he is said to have known about Foley’s crimes. Someone in the press should ask him about that, I’d love to hear how he spins that one.
Remember that Hastert is a former high-school teacher and wrestling coach. One would think that he’d know from experience that those emails indicated something far worse under the surface, but he chose to do nothing.
That’s an excellent point. I’d never thought of that before.
Not only did Reynolds contribute $5,000 to Foley, but Foley contributed $100,000 to the NRCC - which is chaired by Tom Reynolds. Does that sound like hush money to anyone?
We need to be calling for an outside special counsel to investigate this scandal, otherwise Reynolds and Hastert will be content covering things up and letting it happen again.