'Creepy' 2001 Foley e-mail?

WASHINGTON — Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe said Tuesday he told the House official in charge of the page program as early as 2001 about Rep. Mark Foley's "creepy" e-mail to a former page.

Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, said a former page he had sponsored contacted his office to complain of e-mails from Foley and that he "passed along" the complaint to Foley, R-Fla., and then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl. Kolbe said he did not take the matter to other lawmakers.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., again said his staff aides acted appropriately last fall in handling information on Foley's conduct.

"I didn't think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong," Hastert said. But he also issued a stern warning: "If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs."

The developments unfolded as a prominent conservative quoted Hastert as casting doubt on claims by two members of the leadership in connection with the page scandal.

Hastert "assured me that the statement by Congressman John A. Boehner ... that months ago he had told Hastert about the page problem with Congressman Foley, was incorrect," Paul Weyrich wrote in an e-mail commentary on the issue. Boehner, R-Ohio, is the majority leader.

"As to Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds, the speaker said, 'If he had mentioned this problem to me, I surely would have taken notice,"' Weyrich added in an account of a phone conversation with Hastert. Reynolds, R-N.Y., heads the House Republican campaign organization.

Weyrich quoted Hastert as saying Reynolds often came to him with numerous requests to help "incumbents who are in trouble. The speaker said he signs off on the majority of requests and only listens with one ear because the requests are repetitive."

Kolbe spokeswoman Korenna Cline said the complaints to the lawmaker from a former page involved e-mails that were described as "creepy" but were not seen by Kolbe, and occurred in 2001 or 2002, well before House leaders say they first learned of inappropriate messages sent by Foley.

Kolbe is the second person to come forward and say that top House officials had early warnings about inappropriate Foley approaches to pages. Trandahl, the top administrative officer of the House, got his job from Hastert.