Wendy Wilde says Hastert lacks the moral leadership to serve as Speaker and asks him to resign from Congress. She had this to say:
The House leadership failed the public, failed teenagers under their supervision, betrayed the trust of American parents, and allowed their colleague to continue harmful behavior under their watch. They need to step down immediately.”
Full press release below the fold.
Wendy Wilde, Democratic Candidate, MN-03: Reissues Call for Resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert for covering up for sexual predators.
Wilde was one of the first to call for Speaker Hastert’s Resignation on Sunday evening, issuing the call at 7:16PM CST: MN-03: Wendy Wilde Calls for Speaker Hastert’s Resignation
Wilde again calls on Congressman Jim Ramstad (MN-03) to join her in signing a bi-partisan pledge to restore confidence and ethics in the U.S. Congress
For Further Information contact: Jack Harris, jack@wildeforcongress.com,
Alternate contact: Betsy O’Berry betsy@wildeforcongress.com ; Website: www.electmom.com
Edina, Minn. October 6th, Wendy Wilde, Democratic congressional candidate, one of the earliest leaders to call for Speaker Hastert’s resignation, reissues a call for his resignation.”
“It has become clear with the latest revelations that three pages received sexually explicit messages from Mark Foley in 1998, 2000, and 2002, that Speaker Hastert is unfit to serve as a U.S. Representative.” He must do the right thing and resign from Congress immediately and turn over all records relating to Mark Foley and the page program to the FBI, Justice Department and an independent organization.”
“The House Leadership was informed of Foley’s behavior by GOP staff sometime between 2001 and the Spring of 2006. There are also unsubstantiated reports that congressional leaders and staffers knew of Foley’s sexual predatory behavior as far back as 1995.” The House leadership failed to protect the pages and failed their own colleague by ignoring his sexual predatory behaviors which may have been driven by his own abuse at the hands of a clergyman when he was a pre-teen. How many children and teenagers could the House leadership have protected if they had confronted Foley early and helped him get the treatment and counseling he so desperately needs?
The House leadership failed the public, failed teenagers under their supervision, betrayed the trust of American parents, and allowed their colleague to continue harmful behavior under their watch. They need to step down immediately.”
“We also continue to call on Congressman Jim Ramstad, my opponent in Minnesota’s 3rd District, to join with me in signing the pledge to restore confidence and ethics in the U.S. Congress that we delivered to his office Wednesday Morning. It calls for:”
1.) The immediate resignation of Speaker Dennis Hastert, Representatives
Reynolds and Boehner, and any other congressional representatives or staff who had knowledge of Congressman Mark Foley’s sexual predatory behavior and failed to disclose it and report it to the proper authorities.
2.) A full criminal investigation by an Independent Counsel of the Foley scandal and the failure to investigate by House leadership and the Page Board.
3.) The adoption of a new policy in the Congress for transparent oversight and higher standards in administration of youth programs such as the Congressional Page and College Intern programs.
4.) The return of higher House ethics standards for investigations and oversight that were weakened on January 4th, 2005 when the House of Representatives voted to ease the standards.
