Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., is calling on the Senate to ensure Senate pages are protected in the event that Judge Roy Moore wins the Alabama Senate special election on Tuesday, given allegations of improper contact he has allegedly had with teenage girls.
“I write you today to share my urgent concern regarding the threat to the safety of the young men and women working in the United States Senate Page Program if Roy Moore becomes the U.S. Senator to Alabama,” Moore said in a letter to the Senate sergeant-at-arms, noting that the pages range in age from 16-18.
“Being away from home also puts these young people in a very vulnerable position,” Moore said. “The nature of life on Capitol Hill necessitates long hours in close proximity to lawmakers and staff that can create power dynamics of which young people are not fully aware.”
“It would be unconscionable for Congress to not be vigilant and proactive in taking precautions to safeguard these children given the well sourced allegations against Roy Moore,” she added.
The Wisconsin Democrat pointed to the elimination of the Congressional Page Program in the wake of the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley. Foley was found to have improper contact with male pages before resigning in disgrace in 2006.
“The U.S. Congress has an obligation to keep these students safe especially in light of known potential harm,” Moore said.
Roy Moore, the two-time chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has been hit with allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. He is set to face off with Democrat Doug Jones in Tuesday’s election.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Moore leads Jones by just a few percentage points, although a new Fox News poll said Moore was losing by 10 points to Jones.
