The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Election News

October 5, 2006

Gutknecht calls for House page investigation

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — Congressman Gil Gutknecht is calling for a thorough investigation of any House leaders who were aware — and failed to act — when a Florida congressman was sexually harassing teen-aged boys.

Gutknecht, however, is currently sticking by top Republican leaders in the House who are in the middle of a growing investigation into whether they failed to protect the teen-aged pages from Rep. Mark Foley, who was sending them explicit sexual messages.

“I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Gutknecht said of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has said he won’t resign over the matter. “I do think we have an obligation to get to the bottom of it.”

The Rochester Republican said he is not considering canceling a planned visit to the 1st District next week by House Majority Leader John Boehner, also a central figure in the investigation into the Foley scandal. Boehner admitted this week that he had known for months about Foley sending “overly friendly” e-mails to a boy who had worked as a House page.

Critics have said Hastert had known for nearly a year and that both Hastert and Boehner should have acted more quickly to address the issue, which came to light only when ABC News broke the story last week. The Republican leaders have also been accused of worrying more about protecting Foley’s seat in the upcoming election than getting to the bottom of the accusation against him.

The lawmaker who had sponsored the victimized page seemed to lend support to the accusation that Boehner was thinking first of the political implications of Foley’s actions. The Republican lawmaker said Boehner turned immediately to Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., who is the architect of the House Republican’s re-election strategy.

But Gutknecht is confident that Boehner and other House leaders will address any misconduct.

“John Boehner is a friend,” Gutknecht said during a visit to Mankato Wednesday. “John Boehner, I think, has been a breath of fresh air. I suspect that by the time he gets here, there will be an aggressive work plan on what to do.”

Gutknecht said was appalled by Foley’s behavior and felt betrayed. The two men shared a connection — both were members of the Republican “Class of 1994”, the group of freshmen Republicans who gave the party control of the House and promised to reform Washington. As fellow members of the class, Gutknecht and Foley went on retreats together as recently as last year when they spent a weekend at the Scottsdale Princess resort in Arizona.

Gutknecht described Foley as a “very bright, very high-energy guy” who started his first business at age 20.

Gutknecht — who worked as a teenager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant managed by John Wayne Gacy, who the world would later learn had molested and murdered dozens of boys — said he had nothing but the most vague negative impression of Foley.

“There was something about (Gacy) that was very different,” Gutknecht said. “And in retrospect, there was something a little different about (Foley).”

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