Top aide sits before Foley page ethics panel

updated 3:03 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2006

WASHINGTON - The top political aide to Rep. Tom Reynolds appeared before a House ethics panel Monday as House investigators began their third week of taking testimony in the Mark Foley congressional page scandal.

Sally Vastola, executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and a longtime top aide to Reynolds, entered the panel's offices around 10 a.m. EDT.

Reynolds learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a Louisiana teenager last spring from the boy's congressional sponsor and Reynolds says that he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., about it at the time.

Vastola's testimony seemed sure to touch on how Reynolds reacted when learning of problems with Foley's behavior toward pages and what other individuals Reynolds may have shared the information with.

Pending testimony
Reynolds is slated to appear Tuesday before the panel, which is looking into whether lawmakers and staff aides should have done more to prevent Foley from having inappropriate interactions with pages. The known problems date back as far as 2001 or 2002, when Foley sent inappropriate e-mails to a page sponsored by Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.

MORE COVERAGE OF SCANDAL Oct. 24: Hastert, Reynolds go before ethics Oct. 19: Priest denies Foley sex abuse Oct. 10: Kolbe went on trip with 2 pages Oct. 8: Newsweek: Foley's secret life Oct. 8: Newsweek's quiz on D.C. scandals Oct. 6: National Journal: The scandal factory Oct. 6: National Journal: Sex, lies and ... Oct. 5: National Journal: What polls say Oct. 5: Voters say scandal will affect vote Oct. 4: National Journal: Ex-Foley-ated in '06? Oct. 4: NBC: Ex-page shares instant messages Oct. 3: Fineman: If Dems can't win now ... Oct. 3: National Journal: Momentum reversal? Interactive Q&A: The legal implications Interactive: Past political scandals   Slide show: Images from sexiest scandals Read posted e-mails (PDF document)   Discuss: What do you think of the scandal?   Start a new discussion on the implications

Neither that incident nor the 2005 e-mails to the Louisiana boy were forwarded to the ethics committee or the full membership of the bipartisan page board.

Reynolds learned of the Foley matter last spring from Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., in the wake of media inquiries. Reynolds also discussed it with Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner told a Cincinnati talk show that he discussed the problem with Hastert and had been assured that it "had been taken care of."

The panel also is expected to hear testimony this week from top aides to Hastert, including chief of staff Ted Van Der Meid, who had frequent interactions with former clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl about House operations, including problems in the page program. Hastert's top political aide, Mike Stokke, is also likely to testify this week, and the speaker himself could also testify.

Testimony from Hastert's aides - so far virtually silent about long-known problems about Foley and pages - would go a long way toward wrapping up the interviews required for the panel to make its findings, though it's unclear whether the panel will have enough time to issue a report before Election Day.

Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, has testified that he also told top aides to Hastert about the Florida congressman's inappropriate behavior with pages years ago.

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