This is Pathetic!

Update:

It has been brought to my attention by The Raw Story that this may have been a fake email. Their efforts to identify the original source of the email, Dawn Grishim, has turned up nothing. Hastert's office has denied issuing any release implicating Jerry Weller or Phil English.

My apologies for not making more of an effort to authenticate this. The source from which I received it is very reliable, but has also been duped by some disingenuous trickster.

I thank The Raw Story for calling this to my attention.
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I will attempt to be rational here. But, I'm mad.

Speaker Hastert, in a final act as a constitutionally elected LEADER of the United States House of Representatives has established a "tip line" for House Pages. As I said in a much earlier post, the Ethics Committee under Republican Rule is (WAS) pathetic. Like I said earlier, the ethics committee report was largely a joke. Here is Hastert's statement.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Speaker Hastert Announces Page Program Tip Line Number

(Washington, D.C.) House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert today announced the official Page tip line number. Following is his statement:

“As the Speaker I take full responsibility for everything in the building. The buck stops here. The safety and security of the students in the Page program is imperative.

“That is why I directed the Clerk of the House to establish a hotline for reporting any information concerning Pages or the Page program. As of this morning, the Clerk of the House has activated the tip-line. It is for anyone with information regarding the Foley, English and Weller matters. This number can also be used to report any other concerns regarding the Page program.

“The Page program tip line is 866-348-0481.”

This is evidence that the Republicans sat on information that would have been further detrimental to them in the 2006 Election. There were rumors in October that Weller and English were involved in inappropriate relationships with Pages. This is the FIRST acknowledgement of their possible involvement in the larger Page scandal.

How odd that they would wait to issue this information? The only reason I can imagine is that they want the Main Stream Media to cover this rather than the Democratic takeover of Congress.

PATHETIC!