Shame on the GOP!

Oct. 3, 2006 - Editorial San Francisco Chronicle

The abrubt fall of Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican from West Palm Beach, is about more than one congressman's sickness. It's about whether his colleagues were sufficiently vigilant in responding to signs of his exploitive behavior toward House pages.

In backtracking through the scandal, it's outrageous that Foley was not confronted long ago by responsible adults in the House. His doting over congressional pages earned him a label as an eccentric to avoid. After one youth complained about "sick" e-mails from Foley, he was privately warned by House overseers of the page system to knock it off. It's obvious he didn't get the message.

Foley was indulged and tolerated. He headed, of all things, a House caucus on missing and exploited children. There was never a serious inquiry into his curious conduct, and to underline the partisan backdrop, Democrats on the ethics review panels were kept uninformed about the allegations against Republican Foley.

But this dam finally burst. When the explicit e-mails were made public, Foley had little choice but to quit. Days later, he vanished from sight by entering rehab for alcohol abuse.

House leaders are now in a flurry of action they never showed before in controlling Foley. With his resignation, the mess is conveniently out of reach of a bipartisan House inquiry. The Department of Justice is now invited in to sort out the charges.

Foley could face criminal charges if young witnesses can be encouraged to back up the evidence.

Foley's misconduct is obviously a serious matter, but equally shameful is the negligent oversight that allowed his behavior to continue. Members of Congress have a parental responsibility to assure the safety of these young pages. House Speaker Dennis Hastert insisted Monday that neither he nor any other Republican leaders saw the lurid exchanges between Foley and the pages.

Hastert said, "As a parent and speaker of the House, I am disgusted." So are we. But our disgust does not stop with Foley.