Shimkus Did Nothing Wrong?!
John Shimkus did nothing wrong?!
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.
Dan Stover, Democratic Candidate from Shimkus's district, has called for Shimkus's resignation from the Page Board.
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.
"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."
...
"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.
