Pressure rises on House leadership over Foley scandal
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Despite efforts at damage control, the Republican leadership of the House remains under fire from its own conservative base for its handling of the sex scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley (R) of Florida.
Calls are continuing among social conservatives for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) of Illinois and other members of the House GOP leadership, who are being faulted for not recognizing that "overfriendly" e-mails Mr. Foley had sent to a male former House page merited further investigation. Foley resigned last Friday after additional electronic messages - sexually explicit in nature - to other teenage male ex-pages came to light.
When asked Tuesday if Speaker Hastert should resign, conservative activist Paul Weyrich said, "Yes, I think it would be better if he did."
"One of the things that people say to me all the time is, in Washington nobody takes responsibility for anything," continued Mr. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. "And I think that he, having not delved into this the way he should have, has to take responsibility and therefore has to resign."
Weyrich took part in a conference call Monday to discuss the Foley scandal with other social-conservative leaders, who command the respect of millions of voters around the country. Republican strategists are worried that the Foley scandal - which goes to the heart of the party's proclaimed goal of protecting traditional family values - will depress turnout among conservatives on Election Day and hurt Republican candidates, possibly tilting control of the House or even the Senate to the Democrats....
"It [resignation] would, in effect, be a concession that the leadership aided and abetted all of this, and that they were complicit in a coverup," says Charlie Cook, a nonpartisan political analyst. "It's an awful situation no matter what, but I think it probably would throw gasoline on the fire. At this point, the leadership can say, 'Look, the ones [e-mails] we saw weren't explicit and we probably should have done more, but had we seen the explicit ones, of course we would have.' "
James Thurber, head of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, says he believes Hastert is in trouble, but not just on the Foley scandal. "He didn't do much on Cunningham, DeLay, or with reforms," he says, referring to other disgraced former Republican members. Hastert has also faced questions over a land deal in which he reportedly made a profit of more than $2 million after personally intervening in a big transportation and infrastructure bill....
Weyrich, the conservative activist, believes a Hastert resignation would help. "Republicans could then say, 'We take responsibility for things,' " he says. "I don't think he will, by the way."...
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