A senior Capitol Hill aide disclosed Wednesday that he brought concerns about former Representative Mark Foley's conduct with teenage pages to the House Speaker's office as early as 2004, predating by at least a year the warnings that Republican House leaders have publicly admitted receiving.
Kirk Fordham, who resigned Wednesday as chief of staff to Representative Thomas Reynolds of New York, told the Associated Press he held multiple conversations with top House leadership staff, urging them to step in after learning of Foley's inappropriate behavior toward pages.
Fordham spoke out after ABC News cited unnamed GOP sources suggesting he had worked to shield Foley, his former employer, from scrutiny. He flatly rejected that characterization, saying he never asked anyone to obstruct any inquiry into Foley's actions.
The aide said he would cooperate fully with both the FBI and the House ethics committee, offering to disclose every relevant meeting and phone call he had with senior House staff concerning Foley's behavior.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.