As anyone who works in politics knows, many politicians (certainly not all of them) are all too eager to blame their staff any time something bad happens. Late for a meeting? "I got bad directions from my staff." Constituent doesn't like a response they got? "My staff clearly misunderstood me." A lot of legislators don't do this. Unfortunately, a lot of them do. No need to name names; everyone who has ever worked in politics is nodding their head right now.
There's a beautiful sort of freedom that comes when you are no longer beholden to the system. I think that Kirk Fordham will discover that now that he is free from any kind of professional loyalty to the kinds of slimeballs who would cover for and otherwise blow off such destructive behavior from a colleague. Rather than see himself get tarred by legislators in the Pagegate scandal, Fordham did the downright honorable thing. He resigned his job as Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and began to fight back.
Some political hacks become so wrapped up in the system, in the game, that they forget what it's like to actually have opinions of their own. They begin to think that they were put on God's earth to carry water for their boss. Anyone around politics knows the type of person I'm talking about. If you ask them what they think of a particular matter, they begin spouting out the team's talking points.
A guy like Fordham who resigns from a job that pays him $160K a year can hardly be perceived as someone with an agenda. Revenge, maybe, but Fordham also said good things about his former boss, Rep. Tom Reynolds, after resigning. So the revenge theory is hard to buy. And on top of that, the Playground has sources who have worked with Fordham and have said that he's a nice guy and about as far from being a D.C. ladder climber as they come.
So Fordham makes a statement that Hastert's office knew and - big surprise! - Scott Palmer, the guy still making $160K on Hastert's payroll, says he's full of crap. Hmmm... who should I believe? The guy who walked away from his six-figure salary or the guy desperately trying to save his?
That's one of the problems here for the Republicans. The people who don't have agendas all seem to be pointing in one general direction - that House leadership had a pretty good inkling of what Foley was up to all these years, and in their own craven and arrogant desires to preserve and expand upon their own authority, simply ignored what could've caused them a few days of bad press.
The other problem is that Republicans, because they are politicians, have simply forgotten the sheer power of accountability and forgiveness. Republican leadership, instead of just accepting responsibility for badly mishandling the Foley situation and apologizing to the American people, tries to obfuscate the issue and point fingers in all directions.
Imagine how differently things might look right now if Fat Denny simply came forward that first day and said this:
The biggest reason Hastert and company keep taking on so much water is that nobody in the Republican Party wants to admit wrongdoing. Admitting you screwed up will help get you out of this mess, guys. It won't get you in further.
If Republican leadership had just apologized up front and publicly vowed to accept whatever fate was handed to them by their constituents and colleagues, Democrats and the media would look like they were kicking the sinners while they're on their knees, asking for forgiveness. Instead, the media just looks like it's after the truth - which it has to do, since Republicans won't volunteer the truth.
So instead of getting a few days of bad press out of this, Republicans are going to get a month's worse of bad press, likely longer. While he might be safe for the moment, Denny Hastert's completely forgettable tenure as Speaker of the House is all but dead. John Boehner's attempts to distance himself in the "who knew what" game is a clear attempt to preserve whatever remaining chance he might have of becoming speaker or Minority Leader, depending on November's results. Tom Reynolds, like our very own goofy senator of the same name, now has to fight for his own re-election in New York. My bet is that GOP rank-and-file members come back in late November/early December for leadership elections and completely purge top-tier leadership.
Instead of just being accountable, Republicans are now trying to turn this into a process argument. They're bitching about who got the information to the media and what kind of agenda they have. And that, in turn, will simply prove to even more Americans that they just don't get it. America doesn't care about process arguments, guys. They care that you knew of a child-enticing perv in your midst and cared too much about your own political power to weed him out.
Whatever. Bottom line is, Republican leadership was informed years ago that Mark Foley had a thing for male pages, and they didn't do a damn thing about it other than questioning him and buying whatever bullshit he fed them. Anyone who shows judgment that poor shouldn't be trusted to lead the neighborhood parade, let alone the circus parade on Capitol Hill.
And finally, let us not forget that pissed off Republican staff are sometimes a bigger problem than Democratic staff. Republicans shouldn't be so quick to assume that it was the Democrats who leaked this to the press.
There's a beautiful sort of freedom that comes when you are no longer beholden to the system. I think that Kirk Fordham will discover that now that he is free from any kind of professional loyalty to the kinds of slimeballs who would cover for and otherwise blow off such destructive behavior from a colleague. Rather than see himself get tarred by legislators in the Pagegate scandal, Fordham did the downright honorable thing. He resigned his job as Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and began to fight back.
Some political hacks become so wrapped up in the system, in the game, that they forget what it's like to actually have opinions of their own. They begin to think that they were put on God's earth to carry water for their boss. Anyone around politics knows the type of person I'm talking about. If you ask them what they think of a particular matter, they begin spouting out the team's talking points.
A guy like Fordham who resigns from a job that pays him $160K a year can hardly be perceived as someone with an agenda. Revenge, maybe, but Fordham also said good things about his former boss, Rep. Tom Reynolds, after resigning. So the revenge theory is hard to buy. And on top of that, the Playground has sources who have worked with Fordham and have said that he's a nice guy and about as far from being a D.C. ladder climber as they come.
So Fordham makes a statement that Hastert's office knew and - big surprise! - Scott Palmer, the guy still making $160K on Hastert's payroll, says he's full of crap. Hmmm... who should I believe? The guy who walked away from his six-figure salary or the guy desperately trying to save his?
That's one of the problems here for the Republicans. The people who don't have agendas all seem to be pointing in one general direction - that House leadership had a pretty good inkling of what Foley was up to all these years, and in their own craven and arrogant desires to preserve and expand upon their own authority, simply ignored what could've caused them a few days of bad press.
The other problem is that Republicans, because they are politicians, have simply forgotten the sheer power of accountability and forgiveness. Republican leadership, instead of just accepting responsibility for badly mishandling the Foley situation and apologizing to the American people, tries to obfuscate the issue and point fingers in all directions.
Imagine how differently things might look right now if Fat Denny simply came forward that first day and said this:
"We were informed a few years ago that there may have been some kind of inappropriate discussion between Rep. Foley and members of the page staff. We were not given many details at the time. We spoke to Rep. Foley and he assured us that nothing improper had occurred. In simply accepting his word, we failed to live up to our responsibilities as leaders of this body.
These were serious accusations and deserved a full investigation at that time. I apologize and accept full responsibility for not being more assertive in investigating any accusation of wrongdoing against Rep. Foley. I made a terrible error in judgment. But Foley's conduct should not reflect on our hundreds of members who do their jobs ethically and honestly. I offer my sincerest apologies to my caucus, my fellow legislators, and to my constituents.
While I would be honored to serve once again in the leadership of the next Congress, my fate is in the hands of others, and I will accept their judgment when the time comes to decide my future."
The biggest reason Hastert and company keep taking on so much water is that nobody in the Republican Party wants to admit wrongdoing. Admitting you screwed up will help get you out of this mess, guys. It won't get you in further.
If Republican leadership had just apologized up front and publicly vowed to accept whatever fate was handed to them by their constituents and colleagues, Democrats and the media would look like they were kicking the sinners while they're on their knees, asking for forgiveness. Instead, the media just looks like it's after the truth - which it has to do, since Republicans won't volunteer the truth.
So instead of getting a few days of bad press out of this, Republicans are going to get a month's worse of bad press, likely longer. While he might be safe for the moment, Denny Hastert's completely forgettable tenure as Speaker of the House is all but dead. John Boehner's attempts to distance himself in the "who knew what" game is a clear attempt to preserve whatever remaining chance he might have of becoming speaker or Minority Leader, depending on November's results. Tom Reynolds, like our very own goofy senator of the same name, now has to fight for his own re-election in New York. My bet is that GOP rank-and-file members come back in late November/early December for leadership elections and completely purge top-tier leadership.
Instead of just being accountable, Republicans are now trying to turn this into a process argument. They're bitching about who got the information to the media and what kind of agenda they have. And that, in turn, will simply prove to even more Americans that they just don't get it. America doesn't care about process arguments, guys. They care that you knew of a child-enticing perv in your midst and cared too much about your own political power to weed him out.
Whatever. Bottom line is, Republican leadership was informed years ago that Mark Foley had a thing for male pages, and they didn't do a damn thing about it other than questioning him and buying whatever bullshit he fed them. Anyone who shows judgment that poor shouldn't be trusted to lead the neighborhood parade, let alone the circus parade on Capitol Hill.
And finally, let us not forget that pissed off Republican staff are sometimes a bigger problem than Democratic staff. Republicans shouldn't be so quick to assume that it was the Democrats who leaked this to the press.
1 comment:
I appreciate your perpective on this, RS. Why do politicians believe that the "man on the street" ( and I include myself in that because I'm just a guy with a blog) wouldn't accept an apology such as you wrote for Hastert? Yeah, he screwed up, but so have others and found "redemption" of some sort.
It just boggles the mind why politicians refuse to just own up to something instead of trying to stonewall. I can't think of a recent scandal (even back as far as Watergate) that wouldn't have had less fallout had the politico simply admitted he'd goofed.
When will they learn?
Keep up the good work.
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