ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
While Jefferson will return to Washington, another Congressional scandal came to a close this past week. The House Ethics Committee released its report on former Congressman Mark Foley. The Florida Republican sent inappropriate messages to teenage boys working as congressional pages. The report blamed House Speaker Dennis Hastert and others for not protecting the boys. But, it says, the leaders didn't actually break any rules.
Joining us to discuss ethics in the new Congress is Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Good morning.
Ms. MELANIE SLOAN (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington): Good morning.
SEABROOK: First off, what do you think of the ethics committee report on the Foley scandal? Does it do enough?
Ms. SLOAN: No. It's basically a whitewash. You know, what I find the most amazing about it is part of the reason the Republicans lost control of Congress was over this Foley matter because the public thought that Congress had not acted in a manner that reflected credibly on the House. And that's exactly what the House rule is. Rule 23 says members and staff was always act in a manner that reflects the credibly on the House. If you go through the report, it's very clear that they find all sorts of wrongdoing. They find basically that Speaker Hastert lied. They found that members John Boehner and Tom Reynolds both told Speaker Hastert about the problems with Representative Foley.
There are other members of Hastert's staff - Scott Palmer and Ted Van Der Meid - who also they find failed to act. They're very critical of people in their report. And yet despite that criticism, they can't find that anybody actually violated the rules. And I think that's where they get into trouble. To find people were merely negligent instead of violating the rules I think is really shameful.
SEABROOK: Hastert, to be fair, says that he doesn't recall conversations with any of these people about Foley and his behavior.
Ms. SLOAN: That is what Hastert says, but the report finds that both Boehner and Tom Reynolds told him about this. It does seem like it would be a significant enough of an issue that it would be unlikely you'd forgot if somebody was telling you that one member of congress was hitting on congressional pages.
SEABROOK: The report came out of the House Ethics Committee, which has been (unintelligible) out for a couple of years now. Does at least issuing this report bode well for ethics in the new congress?
Ms. SLOAN: No, I think it bodes terribly for ethics in the new congress. Ethics to me has been (unintelligible) out for a lot more than a couple of years, more like 10 years. There has been this long-standing ethics truce whereby both parties have agreed that neither will file complaint against a member of the other party. It's interesting. Former Senator Howell Helfin once said that the problem with the ethics committee is it's very difficult to judge your colleagues one day and ask for their vote the next. And I think that's true. And I think that's an argument for this new office of public integrity.
SEABROOK: Melanie Sloan, let me ask you about another interesting story this morning, the reelection of Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson. He's a democrat. This is the man who had $90,000 in his freezer, according to the FBI. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi did try to marginalize him in the party, but he has the support of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Ms. SLOAN: Yes. It's nearly impossible for me to understand why anybody can support William Jefferson, who is undoubtedly going to find himself indicted within the next several months for bribery and other crimes.
SEABROOK: How do you know he's going to be indicted?
Ms. SLOAN: I'm a former federal prosecutor, not that I think you need to be to know Jefferson's going to be indicted. Two people have already pleaded guilty to bribery in connection with Mr. Jefferson's crimes. He's on videotape soliciting a bribe, and the $90,000 was found in his freezer. It seems inevitable. I think that the only reason he hasn't been indicted so far is because there has been a bunch of legal wrangling over documents that were taken from his office when the FBI raided his congressional office. First they went to a valid search warrant earlier this year.
SEABROOK: Melanie Sloan is executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Thanks very much.
Ms. SLOAN: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
