House washes its hands of Foley case

WASHINGTON — The only thing missing from the House ethics committee's account of former Rep. Mark Foley's sexual advances to former teenage pages: punishment.

Everybody escaped discipline.

The committee found that no rules were broken in Republicans' handling of Foley's sexual come-ons to former male pages.

The Florida Republican, described by one witness as a "ticking time bomb," would have been disciplined, the committee said, but his resignation in late September took him out of the House's jurisdiction.

The investigation was overseen by Republican Reps. Doc Hastings of Washington and Judy Biggert of Illinois, and Democratic Reps. Howard Berman of California and Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio.

The report released Friday said Republican lawmakers and aides for a decade failed to protect the teenagers vulnerable to Foley's advances and remained "willfully ignorant" of the consequences.

"At its core, such conduct is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust of the pages, their parents or guardians and the Congress itself," the report said. "Behavior of this kind cannot be excused or tolerated, as it undermines the integrity of the House."

The committee criticized Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., saying the evidence showed he was told of the problem months before he acknowledged learning of Foley's questionable e-mails to a former Louisiana page. It rejected Hastert's contention that he couldn't recall separate warnings from two House Republican leaders.

Hastert said he was pleased the committee found "there was no violation of any House rules by any member or staff."

He added that no evidence was uncovered that salacious instant messages from Foley — which surfaced after the scandal became public — were known to any House member or employee before that time.

But the committee concluded that Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, was told about Foley's conduct in 2002 or 2003, a finding based on testimony from Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham.

Palmer said he didn't recall the warning.

Overall, the evidence shows that "concerns began to arise about Rep. Foley's interactions with pages or other young male staff members" shortly after he took office in 1995, according to the committee report.

Although the committee recommended no punishments, it said the evidence would have subjected Foley to discipline if he had not resigned.

Foley received a subpoena, but his lawyer notified the committee the former lawmaker would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if compelled to testify. The committee dropped the matter to avoid delays.

The committee said one witness, former House chief clerk Jeff Trandahl, testified he warned the head of the supervisory page board, Rep. John Shimkus, that Foley was a "ticking time bomb" who had been confronted repeatedly.

The warning came in November 2005. Shimkus, R-Ill., confronted Foley and told him to stop sending e-mails to the former Louisiana page.

Polls showed the Foley issue was a factor in Republicans losing their House majority in the November elections and in Hastert being driven from his speaker's post after eight years.

Florida and federal authorities are investigating whether Foley broke any criminal laws related to his communications with the teens.