A year ago, Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert knew the GOP had a problem in its midst. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, a popular Florida Congressman who played a key role in the Republican Party’s struggles to hold on to power in Congress, was soliciting sex from young male Congressional pages.
Foley’s fondness for young boys was no secret in GOP circles. Like other Members of Congress with known perversions and sordid sexual habits, Foley’s dirty little secret finished second to political considerations. All they had to do was keep the scandal under wraps until after the next election.
But Foley was caught sending erotic emails to underage boys in the Congressional page system and the matter had come to light from Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), sponsor of the page who received the emails from the Congressman.
Hastert met with Rep. Thomas Reynolds, the New York Republican who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. Reynolds admitted this weekend that he and Hastert had known about Foley’s problems for months.
"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of the e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander’s," Reynolds admitted over the weekend. "Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn’t want the matter pursued, I told the speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me."
Although Hastert met with Foley and told him to cut out the emails and stay away from pages, he did not notify the Capitol Hill Police or any other law enforcement agency that Congress had a sexual predator in its ranks. Nor did he direct the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation into Foley’s behavior. He didn’t even tell the Congressional page board, the oversight group charged with keeping safe the teenagers who come to Washington to work in Congress. He tried, as happens all too often, to sweep the matter under a political rug and hope that nothing would become public.
Foley, Hastert says, promised to cut out the emails. But, instead, he kept sending messages, not only to the page in question but to others.
Hastert needed Foley because the loss of any Republican seat threatened the party’s fragile hold on Congress. He gambled he could keep the scandal long enough to maintain GOP control of the House.
Congress has a long and sordid history of protecting sexual predators and other wrongdoers in its midst. In the early 1980s, Republicans knew Rep. Daniel Crane (R-IL) had a fondness for young women and talk circulated on Capitol Hill that he was bedding a female page. Over on the Democratic side of the aisle, Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) preferred boys and his party tried to suppress stories about his affair with a 17-year-old male page.
Both scandals hit the fan in 1983, resulting in censure of both members on the floor of the House and reforms of the page system to provide more security. Crane, who cried and asked for forgiveness from the House colleagues, lost his re-election bid in 1984. Studds, however, refused to apologize and declared his homosexuality in a speech before the House. He won re-election easily and served several more terms before retiring.
Democrats controlled the House in 1983. In 1982, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill had received numerous complaints about Studds’ behavior along with requests that the Ethics Committee investigate Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) whose boyfriend ran a gay prostitution ring out of the Congressman’s Capitol Hill townhouse. O’Neill refused to act. A few years later, DC Vice cops arrested Frank’s boyfriend and charged him with prostitution.
House Republican Leader Robert Michel also failed to act on complaints about Crane. It was not the first time he failed to act on warnings about members of his own party.
In 1980, Michel ignored requests to do something Mississippi Republican Rep. Jon Hinson who admitted during his campaign that year that he had been caught exposing himself on the grounds of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, a popular gathering spot for gays on the prowl. In 1981, Capitol Hill police caught Hinson performing oral sex on a male employee of the Library of Congress in a House office building bathroom. Like Foley, Hinson resigned in disgrace.
Congressional leaders learned nothing from the scandals. Michel would later be told of problems with Ohio Congressman Donald "Buzz" Lukens and dismissed the complaints until Ohio courts convicted the Republican lawmaker on charges of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl. Capitol Hill Police also launched an investigation of charges that Lukens fondled a female elevator operator in the Capitol. He resigned from office in 1990.
On the Senate side, Republican leaders for years ignored complaints about Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR). Complaints about his unwanted sexual advances towards women began to surface in 1982 but no action would be taken until several victims, tired of waiting for official action, went public in 1992. Packwood finally resigned in 1995 after the Senate Ethics Committee finally opened a formal inquiry.
So it’s no surprise that the leaders of Congress still do everything in their considerable power to protect their own from the laws that govern the rest of America. It’s the nature of the beast called politics.
29 thoughts on “A long Congressional history of protecting sexual predators”
You left out the wonderfully pious Congressman Bauman of Maryland who, unlike Foley, refused to resign in another GOP scandal.
Is there anybody else on the democtratic side besides stutts?
* Republican mayor Thomas Adams of Illinois charged with 11 counts of disseminating child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.
* Republican campaign worker and self proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
* Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
Republican activist and rising Colorado Republican star Randal David Ankeney, who named his dogs Nixon aned Reagan, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child. Later he was rearrested for 5 counts of sexual assault on a child, 3 counts of sexual enticement of a child, and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
* Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
* Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
* Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
* Republican preacher Hewart Lee Bennett arrested for soliciting sex from 16 year old boys while claiming that he did so to gain their trust and then teach them the love of Jesus.
* Republican Christian Coalition chair Louis Beres investigated for molesting three female family members as teens.
* Clifton Bennett, 18, son of Arizona republican state senator Ken Bennett plead guilty to assaulting 3 boys, aged 11-15 with broomsticks up their rectal areas.
* Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
* Republican golden boy and GOP employee Theodore Bundy executed for murdering over two dozen women.
* Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
* Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.
* Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
* Republican judge and Nixon Supreme Court nominee Harrold Carswell charged with making a pass at an undercover male cop in a public bathroom.
* Republican Randall Casseday, human resource chair of the Washington Times, arrested for soliciting sex from a 13 year old.
* Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
* Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
* Republican councilman John Collins pleads guilty to sexually molesting a 13 + 14 year old girls.
* Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer, who appeared in an ad blasting Al gore, convicted of molesting 9 yr old girl stepdaughter
* Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
* Republican Committeeman John Curtain charged with molesting a teenage boy.
* Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A.Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
* Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos
* Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-yr-old girl.
* Republican activist and Focus on the Family Founder Pat Dobson advocates that fathers should show their penises to their sons while in the shower with them.
* Republican spokesman Brian Doyle arrested for trying to seduce a 14 year old girl over the Internet.
* Republican director of the “Young Republican Federation” Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
* Republican congressman Mark Foley resigned from Congress after sending sexually explicit emails to former male pages under the age of 18.
* Republican constable Larry Dale Floyd of Denton arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex from an 8 yr old girl.
* Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
* Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
* Republican Mayor Philip Giordano of Waterbury Connecticut is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls
* Republican activist Matthew Glavin was caught masturbating in public and fondling an undercover park ranger.
* Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. “Republican Marty”), convicted in Florida on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
* Republican Mayor John Gosek sentenced to jail for soliciting sex from two 15 year old girls.
* Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
* Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
* Republican President of NYC Housing Development Russell Harding pleads guilty to possession of child pornography on his computer.
* Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a “good military man” and “church goer,” was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
* Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
* Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
* Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
* Republican activist Neal Horsley admits to having had sex with a mule.
* Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
* Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
* Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
* Republican judge Ronald Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation.
* Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail
* Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
* Republican Douglas County election official Pat McPherson arrested for fondling a 17 yr old girl.
* Republican party supporter Timothy McVeigh blew up dozens of innocent children in Oklahoma City.
* Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor..
* Republican state rep Brent Parker arrested for soliciting sex from undercover officer posing as male prostitute.
* Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
* Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
* Republican boy scout leader and zoning supervisor Dennis L Rader pleaded guilty for performing a sexual act on an 11 year old girl he murdered.
* Republican petition leader Tom Randall pleads guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14.
* Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter Susan Smith.
* Republican senator Rick Man on Dog Santorum and his wife forced their three children, all under the age of six, to play with a dead fetus in the crib of their home.
* Republican ex congressman Peter Schmitt of Orange County, California’s Republican daughter Mary Kay Lotorneau convicted of raping a 6th grader and bearing his two children.
* Republican congressman Ed Shrock resigned from Congress after found seeking sex on hotlines for homosexuals.
* Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
* Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly had sex with a 16 year old girl when he was 28.
* Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
* Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
* Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
* Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican party leader Bobby Stumbo arrested for having sex with a five year old boy.
* Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
* Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano arrested for sexually molesting a 14 yr old girl.
* Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond raped a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
* Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
* Republican consultant Lawrence Scott Ward arrested at Dulles airport after authorities found child pornography and videotapes of him having sex with children.
* Spokane Republican homophobic mayor Jim West recalled after evidence surfaced that he molested little boys.
* Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
* Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
* Republican activist and James Dobson protege Steve Wilsey convicted of sexual assault after being charged with molesting an 8 year old boy.
The “GOOD OL’BOYS” all protect each other and if/when caught go before another “GOOD OL’ BOY” judge . All extremely corrupt politicians/officials should be rooted out ,along with the lobbyists who do most of the corrupting.These criminals have made america a NAZI nation.And the world knows america is a NAZI nation by it’s actions.
Homosexual Foley’s internet correspondence with House pages is not the point of the revelation being made five weeks before an election. This is a hit on the Speaker of the House, who happens to be Denny Hastert. Foley is simply a vehicle to make the scandal more damaging to the Republicans. There were no calls for the resignation of House Speaker Tip O’Neill, democrat, over the scandals of their party and that is what the comparison should be about.
If enough of these political scumbags get exposed, I foresee a surge in a new field known as “Criminal Consultation for Congress” or CCC. This would consist of a well planned defense involving top lawyers (jewish preferred), as well the, by now familiar, excuses of “alcoholism”, abuse as a child, and terminating with loud public professions of remorse, piety and the ever present and useful claim to have found jesus.
Fair is fair…the new Republican strategy is to bring up any Democratic misconduct for the last 30 years. Fox is all for it this morning so must be the party line. So be it.
Fair is fair…denial by Republicans in the White House being advised by Kissinger and reporting by Bob Woodward…it’s Watergate again! Republicans want to go back? Are they freaking nuts????
Legally, Mr. Hastert is not a employee of a school distrcit which requires manditory discolosure of such information once known.
Morally, yes, Mr. Hastert should have reported his knowledge of Mr. Foley’s activities.
This is a case of one politiican covering for another politican for political gain – in this case, a seat in the House of Representatives.
Look if the guy did something illegal then oust him and put him on trial.
But do not allow religious zealots from trying to take over our country anymore than they already have. In fact religious zealots should NOT be allowed to run for any office of any kind.
I’ve always wondered… Why are fundamentalists quick to punish politicians for sexual misconduct while forgiving ministers guilty of the same? Remember Jimmy Swaggart? And how about Paul Crouch (head of Trinity Broadcasting) who paid a man $425,000 to shut up about a sexual encounter they had in a cozy hideaway? Why can you sin and remain a minister while a sinnin’ politician has to pack his bags? I’ve never understood why politicians are held to a higher standard than ministers.
Hastert’s credentials, Teresa. Not Foley’s. Hastert has known for months.
You got a link on Google news today, Doug. Way to go!
Funny, VMWH, as well-known as Folly is now, he couldn’t get a job at a day-care after all this publicity. Why worry about his teaching credentials?
In any case, good rant, Doug, keep ’em coming.
Teresa
Isn’t Hastert still a credentialed teacher? I seem to remember that he was a High School wrestling coach once upon a time. Doesn’t that make him a mandated reporter of suspected child abuse? If Hastert still holds a teaching credential dooesn’t his disinclination to report suspected child abuse put his credential at risk?
For more info about the molech worshippers…
https://www.puritans.net/news/bush022403.htm
The hypocrites are moving us all into nuclear war for what…?
https://www.thelawparty.org/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm
Just so they can continue to be stupidsh*t hypocrites?
I’ve said over and over and over that D.C. is infested with molech-worshipping abominations but I’m regarded as a kook because everyone wants to do the cognitive dissonance routine.
https://www.thelawparty.org/FranklinCoverup/FranklinBookGrove.htm
Just say no to cognitive dissonce. It’s a killer. It’s killed hundreds of millions of people, and now it’s going to kill billions more.
Every day we read or hear of another pedophile. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Pedophilia has been rampant for centuries and has been covered up for centuries. It is the old “don’t do as I do but do as I say” routine, all the way from peasants to kings. It is time to stop this harmful and disgusting cover up. Let the chips fall where they may!!!
i am amused at some of the above commments and their political “leanings” insights. even as a republician, i am glad Foley is outed! my home town is dealing with a sicko male middle school teacher like this, who assulted several male students for several months before he was finally outed by some parents recently.
I would like you all to notice that Garry Studds’ page was over the legal age of consent, so the lapse was on the moral plane. As was Foley’s. Fooling around with young pages isn’t right.
But because of the law that Foley is so proud of, it was a federal crime, presumably, to send suggestive messages to a person under 18 over the Internet. Talk about being hoist on your own petard.
And Washington gossip is that Foley was outed two years ago in Florida. He didn’t “comment about his personal life,” but he dropped out of the Senate race, leaving the field to… Katherine Harris.
I see that the pedophile voters continue to stand up for the pedophiles they vote into congress. Heck they cover for them in their church’s why not politics? Their congressional appointment of a pedophile national boy scout leader was just par for the course with these creeps and they’ll justify their actions in any way they can. Well the Dems had someone fifty years ago………
Thanks, Doug. We must hold wrongdoers accountable and few acts of wrongdoing are more awful than pedophila.
I live in the town next to where former priest James Porter perptrated his nefarious crimes against the innocent in a Catholic School. I see how many people’s lives, almost 15 years later (the survivors, their families, and area communities) were harmed and soured by this event.
Shame on all pedophiles, wheter in politics or otherwise, for acting so shamelessly. Gentlewoman
Yes, it is called the Franklin Coverup Scandal, and supposidly, covers politicians all the way up to the Executive Branch at that time.
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