Hastert to raise money for Don Sherwood

Former Staffer Says He Alerted Hastert's Office

A longtime chief of staff to disgraced former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.) approached House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's office three years ago, repeatedly imploring senior Republicans to help stop Foley's advances toward teenage male pages, the staff member said yesterday.

The account by Kirk Fordham, who resigned yesterday from his job with another senior lawmaker, pushed back to 2003 or earlier the time when Hastert's staff reportedly became aware of Foley's questionable behavior concerning teenagers working on Capitol Hill.

"The fact is, even prior to the existence of the Foley e-mail exchanges, I had more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest levels of the House of Representatives, asking them to intervene when I was informed of Mr. Foley's inappropriate behavior," said Fordham, who was Foley's chief of staff for 10 years.

Fordham is the fourth person to indicate that Hastert (Ill.) or his staff was warned about Foley's questionable behavior months or years before the six-term lawmaker abruptly resigned Friday, after ABC News published lewd instant messages that the lawmaker had sent to former pages.

TL: House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio will appear this evening at a $25-per-head fundraiser at the Montdale Country Club in Lackawanna County. And House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois is scheduled to make a similar appearance on Oct. 18 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Clarks Summit, according to Lackawanna County Republican Party Chairman Paul Catalano.

h/t to The All Spin Zone for the graphic.