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Tom Reynolds Won’t Seek Re-Election

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The Albany Project reports that the guy who gave Christopher Ward carte blanche to (allegedly) steal from the NRCC, Tom Reynolds, has announced he will not run for re-election. I’m just guessing, mind you, but I predict this means that the investigation into the NRCC finance scandal is finding what is already readily apparent–that while Tom Reynolds was Chair, the NRCC organized itself in such a way to make it very easy for the Treasurer for all these committtees to either launder or steal money.

If I’m right, it also suggests just how incendiary the NRCC might become. After all, Reynolds was intimately involved in attempts to cover up Mark Foley’s pursuit of former male pages.

News reports indicate that a former Foley chief of staff, by all indications Fordham, tried to broker a deal with ABC News’ Brian Ross. According to Howard Kurtz’s column in the The Washington Post yesterday, Ross had asked to interview the Florida Republican after obtaining dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages. Foley’s former chief of staff told Ross on Friday that the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages. [Washington Post, 10/2/06]

Some Questions About Reynolds’s Involvement:

1. Why did Congressman Reynolds authorize his own chief of staff to negotiate on behalf of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley? Did Reynolds know about the lewd IM conversations when he let Fordham advise Foley, and if so, when was he informed? Did Fordham share the IMs with Reynolds?

2. Instead of dispatching his chief-of-staff to keep ABC News from breaking the story, why didn’t Reynolds put the children first and go to authorities? Was Reynolds more worried about a political scandal than the safety of the children serving as Congressional pages?

3. What other assistance did Reynolds provide to help Foley avoid the scandal and the disgrace and possible criminal prosecution that would result?

4. Why is the NRCC refusing to return $100,000 from Foley, given that Reynolds knew of this disturbing behavior when the money was given in July of this year?

That was a scandal that contributed greatly to the GOP defeat. Yet Reynolds showed no remorse for his role in that scandal and stayed in the race.

Which raises the question–what about the NRCC scandal makes it worse then covering up the solicitation of minors?

Mark Foley Falls into Pelosi’s Lap

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Not literally, of course. She’s not his type. But the Blotter is reporting that Florida investigators have asked the Speaker’s help in accessing Foley’s Congressional computer, which they had been prevented from subpoenaing because of the William Jefferson ruling extending Speech and Debate to Congressional materials.

Florida law enforcement officials investigating former Republican Rep. Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, are hoping Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will grant them access to Foley’s House computers.

"We are respectfully requesting access to any and all computer equipment that the U.S. Government possesses that former Representative Foley utilized during his time in office," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey wrote to the speaker last month.

What makes this request particularly interesting is that Republicans have been trying to drum up a page scandal (yup, you guessed it, a consensual blow job) to blame Pelosi for. Thus, while Congress in general seems to want to use the Jefferson precedent to expand their own prerogatives, the new page scandal offers Pelosi cover for turning over Foley’s computer files.

The early indication, at least, is that Pelosi would very much like to do that–turn over materials to the Florida investigative team.

Spokesman Brendan Daly also said the office wants to cooperate with Florida investigators and will consult with House lawyers.

If she were smart, she’d craft an approach that would make it difficult for all Congressmen to use the Jefferson precedent to hide their legal improprieties. But it’s so much easier to get people in DC to take action to punish sex than bribery.