Hastert rebuffs calls to resign

PLANO -- Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert rebuffed calls for his resignation Tuesday over his handling of a congressional scandal but admitted the situation could have been handled better.

 

 

In an interview with The Beacon News at his home in Kendall County, Hastert reviewed what his office knew and did about an "overly friendly" e-mail between former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and a 16-year-old congressional page.

In an interview with The Beacon News at his home in Kendall County, Hastert reviewed what his office knew and did about an "overly friendly" e-mail between former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and a 16-year-old congressional page.

 

"From the information (my staff) had, they did what they were supposed to do," Hastert said.

 

He added, however, that in retrospect, in terms of "Monday morning quarterbacking, yeah, I would have done it different."

 

Hastert spent the first two days of the election recess handling calls from colleagues in Congress and reporters across the country.

 

His flight from Washington arrived in Chicago Monday night in a torrential thunderstorm.

 

But with the Foley scandal dampening Republican chances of retaining a House majority on Nov. 7 and an editorial in a conservative Washington newspaper Tuesday calling for his resignation as speaker, Hastert was in no mood to take it easy.

 

He began to take calls at 8 a.m. Tuesday from his rustic estate in Plano, stopping only for a 10-minute lunch break. By late afternoon, slumped in a brown, leather armchair in his living room with a portable phone glued to his ear, he was answering many of the same questions posed during press conferences Monday in Washington.

 

But when asked what he wanted to say directly to his constituents about the scandal, he stuck to setting the record straight on what he knew about the e-mail exchange and when he knew it.

 

"What we did is exactly what we had planned to do if there was this type of situation," Hastert said.

 

Hastert's office learned about Foley's e-mail, in which he asked a page from Louisiana for his picture following Hurricane Katrina, from Rep. Rodney Alexander's chief of staff about a year ago. Hastert's staff did not receive a copy of the e-mail, but learned it wasn't sexual in nature. The page's parents wanted Foley's contact to stop, but "didn't want the text of the message exposed," Hastert said.

 

Alexander, R-La., sponsored the teen in the page program, and his staff reported to Hastert's office because "they wanted to know where they go with this type of a problem," Hastert said.

 

Hastert's staff deferred to the speaker's legal counsel, who directed the matter to the clerk who runs the page program. From there it was handled by Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., the chairman of the House Page Board.

 

Hastert noted that he was not informed about the e-mail because he was more concerned at the time with making sure Hurricane Katrina funding was going to the right places, reducing the federal deficit by $40 billion and handling the emerging Tom DeLay scandal.

 

"They didn't bring any more decisions to me than what they had to," Hastert said. "This was something that was below my radar."

 

Shimkus told Foley to cease contact with the teen and to end any similar communications. Shimkus was assured the communication would stop. "He did the job he was asked to do," Hastert said.

 

It wasn't until a few months later that Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., learned about the incident from Shimkus and passed the information to the speaker.

 

Hastert reiterated that he doesn't remember the conversation, though he acknowledges that it could have been one of the dozen or so items that came up during weekly meetings with Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

 

Tuesday, House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner got tangled in the mix when he told a Cincinnati radio station that Hastert previously told him the matter had been taken care of.

 

Hastert denied talking to Boehner about the situation.

 

"I really don't recall hearing about it until last Friday," Hastert said.

 

Foley resigned last week after news reports surfaced of a different, far more sexually explicit Internet conversation Foley had with another page.

 

Over the weekend, Hastert asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Florida officials to conduct a criminal investigation into Foley's conduct and anyone -- including members of Congress -- who had knowledge of the matter.

 

Tuesday, Hastert dismissed calls to step down as speaker and said he plans to run for the position again if Republicans retain control of the House.

 

"I know what I did and I know what I knew," Hastert said. "I know what our staff did and I know what we're going to do in the future to make this a better program and safer for kids."