Government Security News

Speaker Hastert:
A study of failed leadership
By K Denise Rucker Krepp
When news about the Department
of Justice’s indictment
of former House of
Representatives Speaker Dennis
Hastert was released on Thursday,
i immediately thought
about the scandal that engulfed
the former speaker nine years
earlier. on that September day,
Representative Mark Foley resigned
after being accused of
sending inappropriate email
messages to former male pages.
Speaker Hastert knew about
the messages but failed to take
corrective action until the story
blew up in the press.
on the evening of September
29, 2006, i was sitting in the
chamber of the House of Representatives.
at that time, i was an
attorney working for the Homeland
Security Committee. i had
spent the past several
months working
with my Senate
counterparts on a
major piece of maritime
security legislation.
We finally
reached agreement
on the bill earlier
that week and the entire House
of Representatives was slated to
vote on the compromise legislation
that night.
When we arrived in the
chamber, everyone was talking
about the emails Representative
Foley’s emails. What was in
them? Why did he send them
to the young, underage men?
These questions swirled around
the chamber as staff tried to get
Congress members focused on
legislating.
Suddenly, then Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi strode
down the chamber. “Mr. Speaker,”
she hollered. Heads swiveled
in the tiny lady’s direction.
“i send to the desk a privileged
resolution.” The resolution
called for an investigation into
Representative Foley’s conduct.
it also highlighted the fact
that senior Republican members
knew about the emails for
months but failed to act.
The Republican leaders
who knew about the emails included
then Majority Leader
John Boehner. Representative
Boehner told the Washington
Post that he spoke with then
Speaker Hastert in the spring
of 2006 and was told that the issue
was ‘”being taken care of ’”.
it wasn’t. Representative Foley
was still a member of Congress
in September.
When the Representative
Foley story exploded on that hot
September day, then Speaker
Hastert didn’t accept responsibility
for failing to act. instead,
he deflected it and blamed his
staff for not properly investigating
the emails. He wasn’t the
only one using these knife-inthe-back
talking points. Shockingly,
former Representative Ray
LaHood told CBS’ Bob Schieffer
that then Speaker Hastert’s staff
had done him a “disservice” for
how they handled them.
Fast forward nine years
and the La times is reporting that former Speaker Hastert
paid over $1.7 million to conceal sexual abuse. The
alleged abuse this time is against a former male student.
Then Speaker Hastert allegedly paid this individual to remain
quiet and then lied to the Federal Bureau of investigations
about the money he was withdrawing to make the
cash payments.
i’m extremely disheartened by this sordid story. Then
Speaker Hastert was the leader of the House of Representatives.
in this role, he was responsible for disciplining
members who misbehaved. But how could do this when
he himself had allegedly sexually assaulted a former male
student?
Disheartenment turns to disgust when realizing how
close then Speaker Hastert was to being President of the
United States. if something had happened to President
Bush or Vice President Cheney, then Speaker Hastert
would have become president. a man who was indicted
last week by DoJ for lying to the FBi about making cash
payment to an alleged sexual abuse victim would have
ruled our country.
K. Denise Rucker Krepp, former Senior Counsel on the
House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee
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