Another House Page Scandal?

Amidst the many reasons that Republicans lost control of the House and Senate last year was a concern about the House page program. Congressman Mark Foley behaved reprehensibly toward the pages, and House leaders were unable to convince voters that they had responded to Foley’s transgressions quickly and properly. Because the pages are High School students who’ve traveled far from home and put themselves under the ‘protection’ of the House of Representatives, voters have a high standard for how they should be treated. With that in mind, it’s surprising that House Democrats have allowed a mini-page scandal to arise on their watch. And their handling of it led first to the resignation of several Republicans on the page board, and now an internal investigation:

The House Inspector General and an independent panel will conduct separate investigations of the page program after two Republican Members said they were not kept up to date on page expulsions and resigned from the House Page Board last week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) met Wednesday evening and came to the mutual agreement… Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) resigned from the Page Board last week, claiming that Clerk of the House Lorraine Miller failed to keep the oversight board aware of the expulsion of several pages. Brown-Waite and Capito’s complaints stem from the expulsion of at least four pages this fall. Two were sent home for shoplifting, while the other two recently were expelled for having oral sex on a dorm elevator, according to several sources. Both Republicans say they weren’t told of the first two, but they also admit that Miller told them immediately about the recent sexual misconduct.

Representatives Ginny Brown Waite and Shelley Moore Capito are the two Republicans who have resigned from the board. Ms. Brown Waite seems particularly concerned about the way the program has been handled this year: