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Braley, Whalen comment on Foley

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By Ed Tibbetts | Wednesday, October 4, 2006 10:50 AM CDT | () comments

TODAY: (Updated 9:54 a.m.) Democratic congressional candidate Bruce Braley said there should be a “strict investigation” of what Republican leadership in the U.S. House knew about electronic messages between former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and underage pages, adding if leaders knew or should have known about it, they should resign.

Noting that lawyers must avoid even the appearance of impropriety, he said, “people who assume the responsibility of leadership in Congress should have no lesser standard.”

Foley’s resignation last Friday after being confronted about the e-mails has shaken the political world, and some conservatives have called on House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to resign. The House leadership has acknowledged it was told last year about contact between Foley and pages but said he denied any impropriety and they weren’t aware of the more graphic electronic messages.

The topic didn’t come up during Tuesday’s debate in Davenport between 1st District congressional candidates Braley and Mike Whalen. Afterward, reporters asked both candidates about it.

Whalen said he didn’t know enough about the scandal to say whether Hastert should resign. But he said the speaker, who appeared this summer at a Whalen fundrasier, is an honorable person.

“When he says he didn’t have notice of it, I believe him,” Whalen said.

Braley said he wouldn’t make a judgment, either. But he said that Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., had said there should be resignations if the GOP leadership knew or should have known about the conduct. That, Braley said, is “not an inappropriate” standard.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.