Paging All Parents
Our liberties have not been safe in Washington for quite some time. Perhaps
it shouldn’t surprise us that neither are our children.
By dollars and body counts, the congressional page program doesn’t tally up
as the most critical issue facing our nation. But the injury of the
Congressman Mark Foley scandal has had insult heaped on top with the recent
House Ethics report.
This august body penalized no one in Congress for looking the other way. And
so Congress continues to set the worst possible example.
It is not the repugnant behavior of Foley that is most frightening. What
horrifies most is the reaction of virtually everyone to play politics with
the matter at the expense of the kids entrusted to them.
Worse still, this was indeed a bipartisan ethics report. The ranking
Democrat on the committee, Howard Berman protested urgently: “This is not
the jerry-rigged result of a series of compromises.”
Oh, no. Of course not. How could anyone even suggest such a thing?
After the 1983 page scandal, Congress established a Page Board comprised of
three lawmakers, the House clerk and the sergeant-at-arms. Problem is, the
just-released report found, the board didn’t regularly meet. And was kept in
the dark.
Now new Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’ll reform the program. First, she’s
going to require regular meetings of the board. Yes, the board should meet!
Brilliant! That’s precisely the thing to do! And, if I may be so bold to
suggest: at the meeting, they should speak to each other.
Still, parents beware.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
