As I warned readers earlier this month when the Foley scandal broke, you need to watch out for the "blame the ex-staffer" strategy.Feebies To Interview Fordham...Butts Pucker All Over Capitol Hill)
ABCNews is reporting that on Thursday, former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham, will tell the House Ethics committee that he told Scott Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, about Foley's efforts at Congressional page turning.
A source with firsthand knowledge of events says that this coming Thursday, Kirk Fordham, former chief of staff to both Foley and more recently Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y. will testify that a few years ago he was told by then-House clerk Jeff Trandahl that Foley had been stopped while trying to enter the pages' dorm in an apparently intoxicated state. The source said Fordham will testify that he recalls this being the event that convinced both him and Trandahl to warn Hastert's office, with Fordham designated to have the conversation with Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer. The source said that both aides had been watching Foley's behavior with pages and that Fordham had counseled Foley to watch his behavior.
The source tells ABC News that Fordham will testify that he alerted Palmer that Foley had a pattern of displaying inappropriate behavior toward pages. Asked about Fordham's claim that he met with Palmer in approximately 2003 to warn him about Foley's behavior, Palmer said in a statement, "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen."
You combine this revelation with Hastert's comments yesterday where he promised that any staffer who had covered up information about Foley would be fired and you get one more open position in the Speaker's office.
Don't worry Scott, I'm sure they'll give you a parachute, if the Republicans do one thing well, its take care of their own.
ABCNews: Foley's Reputed Visit to the Page Dormitory
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