Blog For Stover

Shimkus opponent's campaign gains momentum in wake of page scandal

Danny's getting noticed more, getting more money, and getting much busier - and the Belleville News Democrat seems to be doing a tremendous job of documenting it. Perhaps, being from Belleville, they aren't afraid of angering Rep. Shimkus as much as some of the other area papers. Take a look at this stuff:

Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other House leaders over how they handled the scandal surrounding sexually explicit electronic messages that Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent to teenage male pages.
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"I heard the first report while I was in Chicago and the phone started ringing immediately and hasn't stopped since," Stover said. "I think a lot of people are pretty disgusted about what has taken place. We now have a lot of people volunteering to help, I have a dozen phone calls to return when I get back to the office."

Shimkus has said he's "very angry" over accusations that he did not do enough to protect the pages. He said he told Foley privately last fall to stay away from a page he had been e-mailing because the Louisiana teen's parents wanted the matter handled quietly.

hmmm...Shimkus is "very angry." Maybe he could've avoided that anger by acting on the information he was given in an appropriate manner.

I suppose my main issue is this: Isn't Shimkus a former educator? Why is it that something like a grown man requesting a picture of a 16 year old boy didn't raise gigantic, blood-red flags for the Congressman? Why did he not even try to make sure that Foley's relationships with these boys were merely "overly friendly?" How can he continue along now, asserting that he did absolutely nothing wrong? Is he an idiot, or just a bad liar?

Of course, Shimkus's word hasn't been all that trustworthy in the past, either. Remember that term-limit pledge - five terms, made in 1996, and here he is running for a sixth?

There's still a long road ahead, folks, and Shimkus is still sitting on an unspent million. Money is going to decide whether Stover's message of hope is heard at all throughout the district, or whether it gets buried. A scandal brought attention to this race, and it's gotta be issues that win it - and the only way to get the issues out is to spend some real cash. Please consider contributing to the campaign.

We're adding some fresh bloggers to the BlogForStover scene - be on the lookout for new faces and fresh ideas.

Posted by M.B. at 2:21 PM | Permalink

Money pours in to Shimkus challenger
By Adam Jadhav
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Oct. 04 2006

COLLINSVILLE

When congressional challenger Dan Stover went to bed Sunday night, his online
fundraising account was barely over $1,000.

Less than 48 hours later, as national headlines screamed sex scandal in
Congress, that amount had more than quadrupled.

Granted, that seems like a paltry amount, considering Stover faces Rep. John
Shimkus, R-Collinsville, who sits on a $1.1 million war chest. But Stover and
his supporters call it a glimmer of hope in a race that political
prognosticators had all but written off.

It was the classic challenger's scenario: an upset believed possible only with
help of a scandal. Now Shimkus - the clean-shaven West Point grad, former Army
Ranger and high school teacher - risks being caught in the fallout from the
debacle surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who abruptly resigned last
week after he was confronted with salacious electronic messages he reportedly
sent to a teenage congressional page.

Shimkus chairs the minor House board that oversees the page program.

Whether the incident significantly hurts Republicans will depend on how it
unfolds, political scientists and operatives said. But it has already breathed
life into the campaigns of some Democrats around the state and nation - Stover
in particular.

Realistically, Stover is fighting a lopsided battle, financially outgunned
almost 20-1 at midyear. A soft-spoken academic, college teacher and City
Council member from Centralia, Stover primarily hopes the scandal draws major
campaign contributions to help even the odds.

Shimkus has said that in 2005, he investigated a number of suspicious but not
sexual e-mails that Foley sent that year to a 16-year-old page. He confronted
Foley, ordered him to stop and let the matter go. In the process, he never
alerted the one Democratic member of the board.

Little else came of it until Friday, when Foley resigned amid media reports
detailing overtly sexual comments and queries in so-called instant messages -
online, one-on-one chats - that Foley had with a different boy page in 2003.

Democrats and Republicans alike are crying foul, wondering how it could happen.
Criminal and congressional investigations are under way.

"It so obviously looks like a cover-up," Stover said at a fundraiser Tuesday in
Collinsville. Awkward in front of cameras at news conference earlier in the
week, Stover stood more at ease, chatting with supporters on the patio of a
Mexican restaurant.

"I think it's indicative of (Republicans') arrogance," Stover said. "They no
longer feel responsible to voters."

Shimkus has said he knew only of the 2005 e-mails, and while they seemed odd,
they weren't cause for an inquisition. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,
also an Illinois Republican, has said - in spite of contrary claims from other
GOP representatives - that he didn't know of any concerns about Foley until
Friday's revelation.

Shimkus was unavailable for comment Tuesday, despite attempts to reach him at
his home, his office and on the road. His staff reiterated his previous
statements and dismissed the possibility of political side-effects.

But Shimkus does face a potential loss if social conservative voters, disgusted
by a teenage sex scandal, simply stay at home, said political strategist Joe
Gaylord, a key adviser to Newt Gingrich in 1994 when Gingrich engineered a huge
swing in favor of Republicans in congressional races.

"I know that it is very difficult to turn out angry voters in your favor,"
Gaylord said.

But Gaylord and others question whether Democrats can take advantage.

State Rep. Kurt Granberg, D-Carlyle, by Sunday had called on his challenger,
John Cavaletto, to essentially renounce Shimkus' endorsement of Cavaletto's
campaign.

State Democratic leaders said they'll wait and see how the scandal plays out,
according to party spokesman Steve Brown.

"We expect more of janitors and bus drivers and school playground monitors, let
alone a congressman," Brown said. "I hope (Shimkus) comes forward and answers
some questions."

At the national level, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired
by U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, could pony up advice, staff and press
releases. And it could convince politically affluent Democrats to donate or
raise money on Stover's behalf.

"We're keeping a close eye on the district," said committee spokeswoman Sarah
Feinberg. "This shows what we've been talking about all along - the Republicans
have been more concerned about their power and their politics."

Stover admits such support is a big "what-if." For now, he said, he's at least
generating more interest. Phone calls have poured in, and his campaign website
- www.stoverforcongress.com - has seen more traffic in the last two days than
it had all year.

"What we need is money," said Pam Gronemeyer, president of Downstate Democrats
for Change, a group that is backing Stover. "We can make a real race out of
this."
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Posted by M.B. at 1:47 PM | Permalink

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/neighborhoods/stories.nsf/madisoncounty/news/story/BE909A1097E44A25862571FC007BF27B?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22stover%22


Stover blasts Shimkus over ‘investigation' of Foley e-mails
Harry Weiner
Of the Suburban Journals
Edwardsville Journal,Granite City Press Record
10/04/2006

The scandal involving former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida has quickly become a campaign issue involving Collinsville's John Shimkus.

Foley resigned Friday after the disclosure of e-mails he had sent to a former congressional page and suggestive instant messages he had sent to other pages.

Shimkus is chairman of the board that oversees the page program and was involved in an investigation last year into reports of improper e-mail between Foley and a former House page.

On Monday in Springfield, Danny Stover -- Shimkus' Democratic opponent in the November congressional election -- called for the congressman to resign immediately as chairman of the board of the House Page Program.

He cited "Shimkus' failure to investigate diligently allegations about Foley's inappropriate exchange of electronic mail and Internet messages with at least one former page."

"Rep. Shimkus was obviously the wrong choice to conduct an investigation a year ago," Stover said, adding that House Speaker Dennis Hastert's decision to ask Shimkus to investigate further is yet another error.

"Shimkus neglected his specific duties as chairman and appeared to be more concerned about politics than protecting the well-being of the victim identified in the current news reports," Stover said.

Shimkus, Hastert and Foley are all Republicans - a fact that has created a political storm across the country just a month before the election.

Shimkus has acknowledged investigating Foley's use of e-mail last year to correspond with a congressional page. In that e-mail, Foley had asked about the boy's well-being after Hurricane Katrina and requested a photograph.

Shimkus said Foley told him at that time that "he was simply acting as a mentor to this former House page and that nothing inappropriate had occurred." Shimkus said he and the House clerk told Foley to cease contact with the page.

"We also advised him to be especially mindful of his conduct with respect to current and former House Pages, and he assured us he would do so," Shimkus said in a statement. "I received no subsequent complaints about his behavior nor was I ever made aware of any additional e-mails."

Stover said he is concerned that Shimkus failed to conduct even a modest investigation of potentially serious wrongdoing. Instead he "simply accepted assurances of the accused that nothing inappropriate had taken place," Stover said.

He added that he believes Shimkus and other Republicans were involved in "an obvious cover-up … .. evidenced by Shimkus' admission that the sole Democratic member of the board, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), was not told of the e-mail exchanges until they became front-page news."

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin added his criticism of Republican handling of the situation on Monday.

"The fact of the matter is at the highest levels of the leadership in the House of Representatives, they have known for months that something awful was happening," Durbin, the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat, said Monday.

"What they did was to try to contain it or cover it up,'' he said. "They tried to protect themselves instead of trying to protect these pages, and now is the day of reckoning."

But Shimkus said he had no information before Friday about the seriousness of the e-mails.

"It has become clear to me today (Friday), based on information I only now have learned, that Congressman Foley was not honest about his conduct," Shimkus said. "As chairman of the House Page Board, I am working with the clerk to fully review this incident and determine what actions need to be taken."

Shimkus also pledged to work to safeguard the page program.

"The House Page Program has been an integral part of the House of Representatives for many decades," he said. "Preserving the integrity of the House Page Program is of utmost importance to me and to the House of Representatives, and we intend to uphold and protect its values and traditions."

Posted by M.B. at 1:43 PM | Permalink

John Shimkus and the rest of the Republican cover-up machine - you're on notice!

Posted by M.B. at 1:40 PM | Permalink

John Shimkus did nothing wrong?!

"I don't know of a single thing I would have done differently," Shimkus said in an interview with the editorial board of The State Journal-Register.

Let's review what we know about the scandal. According to the Washington Post, Shimkus and the Speaker were both informed in the fall of 2005, after a former page complained to his Congressional Sponsor, Rep. Rodney Alexander. The complaint indicated that, in email correspondence, Foley had asked what the boy wanted for his birthday, and that the now ex-Congressman had requested a photo.

Let's pause for a minute and review. The emails that Foley sent, and about which Shimkus was informed, included Foley asking what the boy wanted for his birthday, and requested a photo! That, in itself, is not necessarily indicative of a sexual predator, but doesn't it raise some red-flags?

It apparently raised some red flags for Shimkus. After being told of the emails, Shimnkus and the House Clerk approached Foley. They asked him what the emails were about. Foley apparently assured them that he wasn't crossing the line, that he was, in fact, only acting as a mentor.

Here's the critical part of the story: after this reassurance, Shimkus gave Foley a gentleman's warning to cease contact with the boy, and let the matter drop!

John Shimkus and Speaker Denny Hastert were informed of emails that were overly friendly. Whenever an adult in authority has "overly friendly" communications with an underage person, whether that be a teacher, a busdriver, a camp counselor, whatever, isn't it the responsibility of those in charge to make sure that no lines are being crossed? Doesn't the word "investigation" imply more than just asking the possible perpetrator what was going on?

John Shimkus, the Clerk of the House and Speaker Hastert made a collective decision not to pursue the matter any further - salutary neglect, so to speak - for partisan political purposes. How do we know it was partisan? Easy question, simple answer - John Shimkus wasn't the only one on the Page Board.

According to a statement by the Democratic member of the House Page Board, John Shimkus and the House Leadership kept this information from him until it had been seen on ABC News.

As the Democratic Member of the House Page Board, any statement by Mr. Reynolds or anyone else that the House Page Board ever investigated Mr. Foley is completely untrue.

I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House Page and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter.

The first and only meeting of the House Page Board on this matter occurred on Friday, September 29 at approximately 6 p.m., after the allegations about Mr. Foley had become public.

Dan Stover, Democratic Candidate from Shimkus's district, has called for Shimkus's resignation from the Page Board.

"Simply calling Mr. Foley and asking him if he'd done anything wrong and taking his word for it is not an investigation," Stover said at a Springfield news conference. "He should have demanded to see the e-mails and demanded to know if there were other such communications, looked into it further, and not taken him at his word."
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"Shimkus appeared to be more concerned about politics than protecting the well-being of the victim identified in the current news report."

It's time for John Shimkus to take responsibility, for once, for his actions. Politics made Shimkus shy away from the issue of page safety. Politics caused him to fail in his duty as head of the page board. He should, he must, step down immediately from that position and hand it over to someone who cares more about protecting the high school students from sexual predators than about keeping political allies safely entrenched.

Posted by M.B. at 10:35 AM | Permalink