GOPerv enabler Denny Hastert to retire

by: Pam Spaulding

Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 22:00:00 PM EDT

Lane Hudson aptly notes in his post "Hastert to Retire; Leaves legacy of enabling a sex predator" that the Republican congressman holds a prominent place in GOP hypocrisy history for his role in the Mark Foley scandal:

I haven't forgotten that the House Ethics Committee Report on the Foley scandal gave us clear evidence that he knew that Mark Foley was engaged in unethical conduct with House Pages. In spite of this, he did nothing to stop Foley from continuing his inappropriate behavior.

Further, he was fully willing to allow his staff to blame the entire ordeal on Kirk Fordham and Jeff Trandahl, Foley's Former Chief of Staff and the Former House Clerk, respectively. We know from that same Ethics Report that Kirk and Jeff are the only Republicans that did anything to stop Foley's actions. In fact, they went to great lengths to stop it.

"Recent news stories remind us that there are predators using the Internet to target children," Hastert said. "And just as we warn our children about 'stranger danger' when they are at the park or answering the door or telephone, we need to be aware of potential dangers in Cyberspace."
-- from a press release on House Speaker a screenshot of Denny Hastert's web site back during the Foley meltdown, touting his "Effort To 'Keep Kids Safe In Cyberspace." Hastert knew about Foley's "problem" over a year before the scandal, and did nothing about the Florida congressman, who was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

An example of what Mark "totally stiff wood" Foley was getting away with on Hastert's watch -- IM chats with a teen page courtesy of ABC (PDF) -- it's after the jump.

Tasty Foley/Hastert-related links here.