http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/Pictures/Persons/026394/026394-191184.jpg<snip>
KING: Joining us, two distinguished members of Congress. In Peoria, Illinois is Congressman Ray LaHood, Republican or Illinois. And here in Washington is Congressman Robert Wexler, a Democratic Congressman from Florida, oddly enough from Palm Beach County, right next to Mr. Foley's area of representation.
Congressman LaHood, you're close with Speaker Hastert. What do you make of all regarding the Republican leadership?
REP. RAY LAHOOD (R), ILLINOIS:
Well, look, I think the speaker has done the very best that he could, and I think his staff probably let him down by not disclosing to him the information when they had it. I think if it had been disclosed to him, he would have been brought Foley in, had a Dutch uncle talk with him about it, and really monitored much more closely.
The fact is, the speaker didn't know about it, because his staff didn't tell him about it and, you know, I really fault his staff on this, and I think -- I've recommended to the speaker that he at least temporarily suspend the page program, send the pages home, evaluate the program, see if it really is a program that works in the 21st century Congress.
I think it's a flawed program. I think the pages ought to go home. I think if I were a parent of one of the pages, they would be back in Peoria and they wouldn't be in Washington, D.C. KING: Congressman Wexler, I imagine you know Congressman Floyd (sic) pretty well.
(CROSSTALK)
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: Yes, I know Mr. Foley well, yes.
KING: He's the neighboring district, right?
WEXLER: Yes.
KING: What do you make of all this.
WEXLER: It's tragic. It's tragic in many ways. There are many people that are hurt, and unfortunately it exposes ...
KING: I said Congressman Floyd. I meant Congressman Foley.
WEXLER: It exposes -- yes, it exposes a great tragedy in American politics and, unfortunately, there are young people that have been victims. But what Mr. LaHood says is also very troubling to me in terms of the reaction of the leadership. Mr. Gergen said just before that the speaker and the Republican leadership's actions at a minimum was negligence.
Now, the Republican leadership says get rid of the page program. That's an incredible admission that the leaders of the Congress of the United States say we're not comfortable being able to protect young people in our own House, in the House of Representatives. What we actually need to change is not the page program. We need to change the leadership in Congress. That's what the American people wish.
KING: And Congressman LaHood, if it was the fault of the staff though, doesn't the buck stop with the boss?
LAHOOD: It does stop with the speaker, but this program was flawed when the Democrats were -- and Rob knows that. Rob knows that when the Democrats were in control, there was a Massachusetts Congressman who was having an affair with a boy page. This program is antiquated. This program is flawed.
It should have been eliminated by the Democrats, and I think under our watch, we should have the good sense to send the pages home, analyze the program, evaluate it. This program has been flawed under Democrats and Republicans. Look at, Larry, there's a lot of blame to go around and we ought to recognize that this program simply doesn't work in the 21st century Congress.
WEXLER: The ultimate question, unfortunately, is why did the speaker act in secret to protect what appears to be a partisan motive? The speaker is the speaker of the House for all of America, not the Republican Party. The speaker and his office apparently only dealt with one Republican on the page committee.
Why not include the Democrat? Why not go to the FBI and demand an investigation? And that too, quite frankly, is a question which was brought up on this show, Larry. Why has Mr. Gonzales, the attorney general, not investigated this since May or June? If it was a Democratic Congressman, I wonder if the Justice Department would be so slow.
KING: Congressman LaHood?
LAHOOD: Well, look at -- Rob is trying -- you know, he's got all the talking points from Howard Dean and his the DCCC. I'd rather deal with the issue and try and solve the problem that exists. Rob wants to have some kind of a political game here tonight on your show, Larry.
And frankly, I'm not going to get into that kind of a blame game thing. You know, if Rob wants to use the talking points from Howard Dean, that's fine. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to say there's plenty of blame to go around.
WEXLER: That's right. You're right, Ray, and in 1994, the Democratic Party got arrogant and the American people made a change. The question is, the American people want ethics back in our government, and unfortunately, the Republican leadership in Congress has not provided that this week. And unfortunately, there are past examples, with Mr. DeLay and a whole host of others -- Mr. Cunningham -- where there was also a lack of action. And this is why I think that Congress is held in such low regard.
KING: Congressman LaHood ...
LAHOOD: Look at ...
KING: Sorry, go ahead.
LAHOOD: Larry, the speaker has taken strong actions. He is the one that took strong action to make sure that Tom DeLay is not in Congress, strong action to make sure that Duke Cunningham is not in Congress, strong action to make sure Bob Ney stepped down and will not be in Congress.
Look, if this speaker has handled some of the most delicate and difficult situations and he's done it in this case, and I think, you know, the people recognize that.
KING: We've got to cut you, Ray. We'll do a lot more on this. Thanks, Rob.
WEXLER: Thank you.
KING: Thanks for coming by. Congressman Ray LaHood in Peoria and Congressman Robert Wexler from Florida here in Washington with us.
<snip>
Link:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/03/lkl.01.htmlWhat a freak Lahood is, cripes!
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