Posted on 10/04/2006 8:39:44 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
A former U.S. House page working on the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Rep. Ernest Istook may be a part of the scandal involving former Congressman Mark Foley, The Oklahoman has learned.
The former page, a Californian named Jordan Edmund, on Wednesday hired Enid attorney Stephen Jones to represent him, the attorney confirmed.
Jones would not say exactly why he was hired, but did say, “I understand the FBI and the House Ethics committee have an interest in the matter ... the allegations concerning Congressman Foley which have surfaced.”
Foley, a Republican from Florida, resigned abruptly on Friday after it was learned that he exchanged sexually explicit e-mails with former pages. The FBI is investigating.
Istook’s campaign manager, Chip Englander, who is also from California, declined comment Wednesday to an Oklahoman reporter.
However, Englander gave The Oklahoman a statement that was attributed to Istook.
The statement says, “The sad and sick behavior of Mark Foley was a total surprise to me when it was revealed. Law enforcement is doing its job, and I support that effort. Now we should all support and protect the victims, and they should not be hounded by the press.
“It was a complete surprise to learn this morning that one victim may be someone I know. Each one of the victims deserves their privacy. To every reporter I request, please have the decency to avoid making things worse for the victims, and just leave them alone. This happened years ago when the victims were minors.”
Reached at his home, Istook referred to the prepared statement.
Edmund’s name surfaced on Internet “blogs” that linked him to the instant message address used in communications with Foley.
One blogger got the instant message address from the Web site of ABC News, which has obtained the instant messages sent between Foley and a former page.
In the sequence of messages identified by the blogger, Foley tells the person to “strip down and get relaxed.”
It is not clear whether Foley’s other instant messages, including one in which he apparently conducted “instant message” sex with a person, were all to the same person.
Asked why Edmund needed an attorney, Jones said, “You read the blogs. You know why he needs an attorney.”
Jones, who represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in his murder trial in Denver, confirmed Edmund was a U.S. House page.
“I’ve been retained in the last several hours,” Jones said. “I’m still reviewing matters.”
Jones said the two met Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
Edmund had an Internet page on the popular MySpace Web site.
On that page, he identified himself as being 21 years old and said he had been attending college at the University of California at Berkeley. He said he was going to Oklahoma to be deputy campaign manager for Istook’s gubernatorial effort, the Web site stated.
Edmund registered to vote in Oklahoma in March, records show.
The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting this morning about the Foley matter.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, one of the 10 members of the committee, flew back to Washington on Wednesday for what he called an “emergency meeting.”
He said the committee today would not hear from witnesses but would set the parameters of the investigation.
Contributing: Staff Writers Joe Wertz, Bryan Dean, Jennifer Mock and Ryan McNeill
Copyright 2006
"This is looking more and more like a coup attempt within the Republican party to take down Hastert via Foley."
"Wow! You just went straight to the #1 spot on the day's list of most ignorant comments spouted on Free Republic..."
You know, this comment isn't as ignorant as you think. John Boehner went out of his way to blame the Foley incident on Hastert. Other Pubs have abandoned Hastert too. I think he's on to something here. I thought the same thing, that some Pubs are using this to get rid of Hastert for their own political gain or reasons. Something smells here. This whole Foley October surprise and the follow-up remarks by Dems is a well-orchestrated campaign to bring down the Speaker, even more so than Foley. Hastert is a much bigger fish. Third in line to the Presidency. A powerful Pub in Congress. Their enemy. Just like the Dems/MSM brought down Newt Gingrich, in conjunction with weak and turncoat Pubs who buckle rather than fight back. This whole episode stinks to high heaven.
I'm not so sure this page is gay.
Yes, I am suprised (kinda) that there is still nothing up on Fox or Newsmax.
It's not breaking news?
Even though:
a) "victim" lawyers up, bigtime,
b) Freeper knows "victim" as some kind of minor scoundrel,
and
c) House Ethics Committee to hold emergency closed meeting Thursday.
What WOULD be breaking news?
You wouldn't criticize a 9/11 widow for intemperate comments...and in this case, you wouldn't want to blame the victim...
Fabulous job! Thanks.
Not quite sure who the 'victim' is in this whole sordid mess. I hope that crackling noise I hear is a brick wall starting to fall on ABC, Brian Ross, Nancy Pelosi et al.
Read the threads.
The Berkeley Political Science majors aren't libs.
There's a reason I keep putting "victim" in quotation marks.
I pinged you to this thread, but I'll just move a bit of it here.
--------------------------------------------------
Longtime Republican was source of e-mails
The source who in July gave news media Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) suspect e-mails to a former House page says the documents came to him from a House GOP aide.
That aide has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote, said the source, who showed The Hill public records supporting his claim.
The same source, who acted as an intermediary between the aide-turned-whistleblower and several news outlets, says the person who shared the documents is no longer employed in the House.
But the whistleblower was a paid GOP staffer when the documents were first given to the media.
You're getting the "kids" mixed up. Mr. Edmunds received the Instant Messages and works for Isatook's campaign. Another young man received the innocuous e-mails. The "e-mail" young man's parents are the one's who were not doing the pursuing. Mr. Edmunds was more than old enough to deal with advances from Mr. Foley...if he had chosen to.
Me either.
His myspace page quoted a salary of 30,000.
That's a plead guilty, pay your fine salary.
"Jones would not say exactly why he was hired
I'm sorry, this just struck me as funny. Is this the usual state of things with lawyers?"
He's being hired by the kid because the kid smells money and so does this lawyer. They will sue ABC for accidently putting the kid's name out there in cyberspace where it was picked up by the blogger who outed him. That's why the lawyer.
And this is a "Bernard Barker" kind of retainer.
Depends on what his bank account says.
Truly.
Well, that scenario would be pretty sweet too.
Okay, not saying that's not the case, but he's a defense lawyer.
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