What skeletons are lurking in House leadership candidates' closets?

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)

The House leadership scramble might have just gotten fun. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has written a cryptic letter to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the No. 4 House Republican, saying that any candidate for any leadership position that has "misdeeds" to contend with since they were elected needs to withdraw. Then he went to Politico to talk about it some more.

Jones, in an interview with POLITICO Wednesday morning, said he is not referring to anyone specific. He said he doesn't want any misstep to "destroy our conference." Jones made reference to revelations that surfaced earlier this year that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) allegedly spoke to a white supremacy group a decade ago.

"My point was not any individual, what it was that in this world we live in today, with you young guys, and the Internet and everything, all the blogs and the papers, I just felt that when I leave at 5 o'clock, no one knows what I do," Jones said. "What I'm trying to say is if anybody running for leadership has after 5 o' clock, had an issue, drinking and driving or playing cards, or anything, then I think that the conference needs to know it."

In his letter, Jones refers specifically to Newt Gingrich and to Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA) who was on tap to be speaker back in 1998 before having to step down because the fact that he cheated on his wife became public. Lots can happen in Washington, DC, after 5 o'clock with the "young guys and the internet and everything."

So, what does Walter Jones know? And who is he talking about?