In the early 1980s two House Members, Gerry Studds (D-MA) and Daniel Crane (R-IL), were accused of sexual misconduct with house pages. House Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-MA) fully investigated the scandal, appointing special counsel Joseph Califano Jr. to investigate the matter for the House Ethics Committee.
Courtesy Justin Rood TPM Muckraker
For Last Page Scandal, Probe Was Independent -- and Massive
From the Congressional Record July 20, 1983 (.pdf)
In all, the special counsel's Office has conducted some 700 interviews, taken more than 125 depositions covering more than 6,000 transcript pages, tried to contact every House page who served since September 1979 and dozens who served earlier, traveled almost 100,000 miles to more than 50 cities, and devoted more than 50,000 hours of staff time to this investigation.
In addition, the Department of Justice conducted it's own investigation into the matter. The Justice Department eventually concluded that no crimes were committed and no charges were brought since the legal age of consent in District of Columbia and Virginia at the time was 16.
That wasn't good enough for the House back in those days.
Rep. Louis Stokes (D-OH) of the ethics committee had this to say.
From the Congressional Record July 20, 1983 (.pdf)
"But the committee strongly concluded that the Members of the House must be held to a higher standard than the criminal law. The House has a special relationship of trust with the teenage pages it employs. The committee believed that only one standard of conduct could be considered appropriate: No sexual relationship between a page and a Member of the House can be regarded as acceptable behavior. No sexual advance by a Member to a House page can be tolerated. The committee concluded that this standard had to be absolute and that there were no exceptions to that standard". (emphasis added)
Floyd Spence (R-SC), of the ethics committe had this to say regarding the duties of that committee.
"Mr. Speaker, what is expected of us as we carry out our duties?
That we set all passions aside;
That we examine all the facts;
That we study the precedents of the House;
That we review all pertinent law;
That we place justice above politics;
That we be fair but firm;
That we preserve the diginity of the House;
That we set no precendent that will not stand the test of time; and
That any recommended punishment be just, appropriate, and effective."
The House had originally reprimanded the two Representatives. However, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) called for thier expulsion. The House eventually voted to censure Crane and Studds, the first time in House history that censure had ever been imposed for sexual misconduct.
Flash forward to now.
How have the Republicans handled this matter so far?
Tony Snow on CNN (video courtesy of Crooks and Liars)
"Yes, look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill. And there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails."
Dennis Hastert (R-IL) (from the Chicago Tribune)
"The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
John Shimkus (R-IL) (From St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
"I think based on the information I had, what I did was fine."
Thomas Reynolds (R-NY), in a bizarre press conference where he used children as human shields in an attempt to protect him from reporter's questions. (video courtesy of Buffalo Geek)
"I did what most people would do in a workplace. I heard something, I took it to my supervisor."
Rodney Alexander (R-LA) (from The News Star)
"My first action was to call his parents and make sure they were aware of the situation," Alexander said. "They said they were and that they would handle it."
::snip::
Alexander said he also notified majority leader John Boehner of Ohio.
John Boehner (R-OH) (from the Chicago Tribune)
"I believe I talked to the Speaker and he told me it had been taken care of. In my position it's in his corner, it's his responsibility. The Clerk of the House who runs the page program, the page board all report to the Speaker. And I believed that it had been dealt with."
So far, it appears that the major theme here is, "I told my superiors about it, so it's not my fault." As Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show, "...Congressman? or assistant manager at Applebees?" And the "supervisor" at the end of the line, Denny Hastert, appears to think it's all the Democrat's fault.
Compared with the 1980s aggressive investigation by the Justice Department, independent Special Counsel appointed by the House, and the House ethics committee, the Republican leaders today have, so far, fallen woefully short.
We still have yet to see how thorough and fair the current House ethics committee will be in investigating this matter.
I, for one, have my doubts.