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Impeach George Bush

RNC NAMBLA

Source: Bloomberg, 2006-10-06

Candidate: Republican Party

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is almost certain to remain in his post through the end of the year, weathering a storm of criticism over his handling of the Mark Foley sex scandal, although it remains unclear whether he has stemmed the political damage from the affair.

``I haven't done anything wrong,'' the Illinois Republican said at a news conference in his home district yesterday. He said that when a leader becomes ``a detriment to the party,'' a change should be made, while adding: ``I don't think that's the case.''

Hastert, 62, will likely survive for now in part because there is no appetite among Republican lawmakers to call the full House back into session to elect a new speaker, as required by the Constitution, and because there's no obvious successor untainted by the Foley affair among the Republican House leadership.

``Removing Hastert might make things look worse,'' said Kenneth Gross, a Washington lawyer who served as a legal adviser to former Republican Senator Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. ``It would send a signal that he may have been more involved or more remiss than he was. Let the matter cook at the ethics committee.''

Foley, 52, a Florida Republican, resigned from Congress Sept. 29 after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit electronic messages sent to male pages.

The scandal may already be helping Democrats -- an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released yesterday found half of likely voters say congressional scandals will be important when they vote -- and even Republicans say they don't know whether Hastert's hang-tough approach will help.

`Mean and Ugly'

``Politics is politics and it can be awfully mean and ugly,'' said Representative Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican. ``We can all agree that the Democrats smell blood in the water.''

Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Stanford Washington Research Group in Washington, said Republicans have already been damaged by the Foley affair and will suffer even more if there are new disclosures.

``For the majority of voters, this issue is devastating for the Republicans,'' Valliere said.

Yet most Republican lawmakers appear to have settled on a strategy of sticking with their embattled leader while accusing Democrats of hypocrisy and blaming the news media for the scandal.

One clear sign of this could be found in the statements of support for Hastert yesterday from House leaders who had previously distanced themselves from the speaker.

`Full Confidence'

House Majority Leader John Boehner, who earlier this week said the Foley issue was Hastert's responsibility, issued a statement expressing his ``full confidence in Speaker Hastert and his leadership.'' The Ohio Republican said Hastert ``has my full support, and I believe strongly he should remain our speaker.''

Representative Roy Blunt, the No. 3 House Republican, who said earlier this week that he would have advised asking more questions about Foley's contacts with pages, also backed Hastert.

``We all now realize that this terrible situation could have been handled differently,'' said Blunt, a Missouri Republican. ``But we all stand together with our speaker.''

President George W. Bush last night called Hastert and thanked him for taking responsibility for how Foley's case was handled.

And while some Republican lawmakers continued to express concerns about Hastert, they also voiced doubts about other members of the leadership, underscoring how difficult it would be for the party to find a new speaker untainted by the scandal.

Leaders

For example, Representative Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire Republican, said he was ``very concerned'' with the news reports ``that indicate leadership in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Hastert, may have had advance knowledge of this wrongdoing.''

Gingrey said the Foley scandal could damage his party politically by depressing Republican voter turnout only ``if we don't fight back, if we do nothing but defense and don't go on the offense.''

And Hastert indicated plenty of willingness to counterattack. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he blamed Democrats aligned with former President Bill Clinton for having a hand in disclosing Foley's conduct. While less specific during his news conference, he suggested that Democrats had resorted to a ``political tactic.''

`Coach Hastert'

``Hastert will survive this and the Republican Party will survive this,'' said Gingrey. ``I would rather stick with the speaker and lose the House in November than sacrifice Coach Hastert for the sake of victory knowing he's guilty of nothing.''

As Hastert mounted his defense, the House ethics committee began its investigation of the Foley matter by approving about four dozen subpoenas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also begun a preliminary inquiry.

The ethics committee investigation will include whether Republican leaders acted properly to safeguard teenage congressional pages.

Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican, wouldn't say whether Hastert was subpoenaed. ``We pledge to you that our investigation will go wherever the evidence leads us,'' Hastings said.

Special Counsel

Representative Joel Hefley, a Colorado Republican who previously headed the ethics committee, expressed skepticism it could adequately examine Republican leaders, saying it should instead appoint an independent investigator such as a special counsel or a task force of former lawmakers.

The senior Democrat on the panel, Howard Berman of California, said the committee had decided not to hire an outside counsel. William O'Reilly, the committee's chief counsel, will head the investigation.

Separately, Hastert told reporters that he was seeking ``a person of high caliber'' to conduct a review of the page program and make recommendations to prevent future problems.

Hastert contacted House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and told her he wanted to ask Louis Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to handle that task, according to Jen Crider, a Pelosi spokeswoman.

Crider said Pelosi rejected that proposal because she doesn't believe Freeh has sufficient credentials on handling cases involving exploited children. Crider said Pelosi also believes the ethics panel should complete its investigation before changes to the page program are considered.
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