Rep. Kingston Throws The Gauntlet Down For Pelosi
Today, I sent letters to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Rahm Emanuel and DNC Chairman Rahm Emanuel requesting that they also come before the House Ethics Committee in regards to what they or their staff might have known about Mark Foley and his activities. The letters were also signed by 10 of my fellow Members.
This sad episode should not be a partisan issue. It reflects poorly on the Congress as a whole and weakens the trust of the American people. In order to restore that trust we must complete this investigation in a thorough and non-partisan fashion. All Members of the House, our staff, and members of the public regardless of political party should come forward and provide whatever information they know. We need to get to the bottom of who knew about Mr. Foley’s inexcusable actions, when did they know about it, when did they first become aware of the Instant Messages in question, and what did they do with that information.
I think that makes sense.
People have been so busy talking about a Republican cover-up that another angle to this story has gone largely un-talked about: What if Democrats covered up Foley’s actions too? Not to protect Foley, of course, but rather to keep the scandal quiet until a politically opportune time for them. Like a month before an election, perhaps?
If the Democrats did sit on this information it doesn’t excuse anything Foley did. Far from it. But what it does do is make their accusations of Speaker Hastert ring hollow. After all, how can Democrats accuse a man of covering up a sex scandal for political purposes if they themselves covered up the same scandal for political purposes?
I believe that what certain key Democrats knew about Foley and when they knew it is every bit as important as what Republican leaders knew of Foley and when. Because this isn’t supposed to be about politics for either side.
