WASHINGTON - Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday he told the House official in charge of the page program as early as 2001 about Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s "creepy" e-mail to a former page.
Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, said a former page he had sponsored contacted his office to complain of e-mails from Foley and that he "passed along" the complaint to Foley, R-Fla., and then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl. Kolbe said he did not take the matter to other lawmakers.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., again said his staff aides acted appropriately last fall in handling information on Foley's conduct.
"I didn't think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong," he said. But he also issued a stern warning: "If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs."
Kolbe spokeswoman Korenna Cline said the complaints to the lawmaker from a former page involved e-mails that were described as "creepy" but were not seen by Kolbe, and occurred in 2001 or 2002, well before House leaders say they first learned of inappropriate messages sent by Foley.
Kolbe is the second person to come forward and say that top House officials had early warnings about inappropriate Foley approaches to pages. Trandahl, the top administrative officer of the House, got his job from Hastert.
A lawyer for Kirk Fordham, Foley's longtime chief of staff, said Fordham will tell the House ethics panel Thursday that he warned Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, about inappropriate Foley conduct with pages in 2003 or possibly the previous year. Palmer has denied Fordham's account.
Hastert says he learned of Foley's conduct toward pages only on Sept. 29, when the Florida lawmaker abruptly resigned after being confronted by ABC News with copies of lurid instant messages he had sent to a former page. About a year ago, Hastert aides learned from Rep. Rodney Alexander (news, bio, voting record), R-La., about "over-friendly" but not sexually explicit e-mails from Foley to a former page from Louisiana. The aides did not inform Hastert, according to an account by his office.
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Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, said a former page he had sponsored contacted his office to complain of e-mails from Foley and that he "passed along" the complaint to Foley, R-Fla., and then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl. Kolbe said he did not take the matter to other lawmakers.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., again said his staff aides acted appropriately last fall in handling information on Foley's conduct.
"I didn't think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong," he said. But he also issued a stern warning: "If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs."
Kolbe spokeswoman Korenna Cline said the complaints to the lawmaker from a former page involved e-mails that were described as "creepy" but were not seen by Kolbe, and occurred in 2001 or 2002, well before House leaders say they first learned of inappropriate messages sent by Foley.
Kolbe is the second person to come forward and say that top House officials had early warnings about inappropriate Foley approaches to pages. Trandahl, the top administrative officer of the House, got his job from Hastert.
A lawyer for Kirk Fordham, Foley's longtime chief of staff, said Fordham will tell the House ethics panel Thursday that he warned Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, about inappropriate Foley conduct with pages in 2003 or possibly the previous year. Palmer has denied Fordham's account.
Hastert says he learned of Foley's conduct toward pages only on Sept. 29, when the Florida lawmaker abruptly resigned after being confronted by ABC News with copies of lurid instant messages he had sent to a former page. About a year ago, Hastert aides learned from Rep. Rodney Alexander (news, bio, voting record), R-La., about "over-friendly" but not sexually explicit e-mails from Foley to a former page from Louisiana. The aides did not inform Hastert, according to an account by his office.
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