Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says Republican leaders must explain why they didn’t come forward with evidence of misconduct by Florida Representative Mark Foley. Foley resigned Friday after news reports revealed explicit emails he apparently wrote to teenage House pages.
According to Durbin, some people knew of the problem long before that. He says he’s been informed that House leadership knew for months that Foley had been acting inappropriately.
“The fact that they didn’t stop him, the fact that they didn’t bring in law enforcement - I think they have to be held accountable. The hard questions have to be asked, from the top on down,” Durbin says.
According to an account from his office, House Speaker Dennis Hastert learned of the extent of the misconduct just last week. The statement says his staffers knew in 2005 of an earlier instance of so-called “over-friendly” correspondence between Foley and a former page. They referred that matter to the Clerk of the House.
Durbin says alerting “an insider” was not enough.