Former Foley aide testifies before ethics panel

updated 4:33 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2006

WASHINGTON - The House ethics committee Thursday questioned the one-time chief of staff to ex-Rep. Mark Foley, who challenged Speaker Dennis Hastert’s account of his office’s first notification of Foley’s conduct toward male pages.

Kirk Fordham gave crucial testimony behind closed doors as investigators sought to learn who is telling the truth. Fordham said he gave the information to Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer in 2002 or 2003, but Palmer has disputed Fordham’s account. Hastert’s office said his staff was first told about Foley last fall.

Republicans received a new indication Thursday that the Foley scandal is hurting their chances of retaining control of the House.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said in Cape Girardeau that GOP leaders made a mistake in failing to take quick action to address Foley's conduct. She said the controversy and the public's frustration with the war in Iraq could make it difficult for the GOP to retain control.

"Today, I'd say we aren't going to hold it," she said in remarks quoted by the Southeast Missourian newspaper in Cape Girardeau.

Before Fordham appeared, a Republican member of the House page board, which oversees the program for teenagers, said she was never told about Foley.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said after her questioning, “I’m a member of the page board who was not informed of the e-mail messages that were sent. I want the investigation to go forth quickly and reach a conclusion.”

Capito’s Democratic opponent had earlier accused her of failing to protect the high schoolers in the page program.

Keeping Capito out of the loop would raise questions about whether other Republicans tried to tell as few people as possible about Foley as part of a cover up. She is one of three members of Congress who serve on the page board. Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, the lone Democrat, also said he was not told about Foley.

Capito’s testimony preceded that of Foley’s chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who was ready to directly question the truthfulness of Speaker Dennis Hastert’s top aide.

Fordham said he could demonstrate that he warned Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer about Foley’s approaches to male pages in 2002 or 2003. Palmer has challenged Fordham’s description of events.

Capito said she knew nothing about the allegations until Sept. 29, when Foley’s conduct became a major Capitol Hill scandal.

“It disturbs me greatly. I am very upset about it and I think it is disgusting, quite frankly,” Capito said in a West Virginia debate Wednesday after her opponent accused her of shirking her responsibility. She has called for more members on the page board, more training for those members, and peer counseling for the pages.

Timeline in dispute
According to a timeline released by Hastert, the speaker’s office was informed about an overly friendly e-mail that Foley sent in the fall of 2005. Subsequently, the clerk of the House and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., head of the page board, met with Foley, who assures them he was only acting as a mentor to the boy. Shimkus ordered Foley to cease contact with the boy, apparently without notifying Kildee or Capito.

Shimkus will testify Friday.