We've been saying Congress can't police its own ethics. And we've got a petition telling Congress to come back, make information on what happened public and set up an independent ethics commission.
Here's another twist on policing themselves. Jonathan Turley, a well-know law prof here in DC, writes in the WaPo of his own experience as a page and proposes getting members of Congress out of the business of overseeing them.
As you read his column, about his own experiences and other page-related scandals, you see that this is another arena where Congress has failed to police itself, to keep its own House in order. Over many years and with different parties in charge. Here's part of what he says:
The most glaring problem is that the House Page Board, which supervises the pages, is made up mostly of members of Congress (the Senate Page Board is composed of only two Senate officials, with no members). The representatives on the board have built-in conflicts of interests in moving against members accused of harassment. Political and social alliances complicate the process and many members would prefer to remain in blissful ignorance when rumors arise. Indeed, some (including the House speaker, Dennis Hastert) are accused of having known about Mr. Foley's inappropriate messages months ago but allowing the matter to be addressed only informally and without serious action.
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