Joseph Califano Jr who was special counsel to the ethics committee during the page scandal when Tip O’Neil was speaker compares what occurred then to now. Well worthreading.
The most troubling aspect of the Mark Foley scandal is not his conduct, disgusting as it was, but what the response of the leadership reveals about the rancid state of partisanship and the consequent decline of the House of Representatives. Speaker Dennis Hastert presides over a legislative body so infested with mistrust that it doesn’t even have a functioning ethics committee. Since the House is incapable of washing its own dirty laundry and policing itself, the speaker has to turn over that responsibility to the attorney general and the executive branch of government.
Thanks for posting this. We see/hear references to the two incidents but knowing the bigger story is more important.