Istook Aid was Page

[Bledsoe]

Istook may know page who got e-mail
By World Capitol Bureau
10/5/2006



OKLAHOMA CITY -- U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., issued a statement Wednesday saying he had learned that he might know one of the pages who received lurid computer messages from former Rep. Mark Foley.

Stephen Jones, an Enid attorney, is representing the victim, who is working in the Istook gubernatorial campaign in Oklahoma, sources later confirmed.

Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned Friday after being confronted with sexually explicit electronic messages he had sent teenage male pages on Capitol Hill.

Istook, who is giving up his seat in Congress to run for governor, said: "It was a complete surprise to learn this morning that one victim may be someone I know."

Istook declined to elaborate.

The congressman had said Monday that his office had received no complaints from any pages from Oklahoma.

Istook said Wednesday that Foley's "sad and sick behavior . . . was a total surprise to me when it was revealed. Law enforcement is doing its job, and I support that effort."

He urged reporters to "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."

______________________________________________
Istook aide may be victim in page scandal

By Chris Casteel, Nolan Clay and Michael McNutt
The Oklahoman

Copyright 2006, The Oklahoman

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 U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, The Oklahoman has learned.

The former page, a Californian named Jordan Edmund, 21, 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 Friday after it was learned he exchanged sexually explicit e-mails with former pages. The FBI is investigating.

Istook's campaign manager, Chip Englander, who also is 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 (demookie.com) 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 Web page, he identified himself as being 21 years old and said he had been attending college at the University of California, Berkeley. He also identified himself as a House page from September 2001 to June 2002. He would have been 16 and 17 then. He said he was going to Oklahoma to be deputy campaign manager for Istook's gubernatorial effort, according to the Web site.

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.

Cole said the investigation would not focus on Foley because his resignation put him beyond the committee's jurisdiction.

Without making specific references to any House leaders, Cole made it clear that the committee will be interested in how knowledge of Foley's contacts with a former Louisiana page were handled in the House.

"We want to know who knew what and when, and what was done about it," Cole said.

Conflicting stories have been told by top Republican leaders and their staff members about what kind of information they had about Foley's contacts with former pages and how they acted on that information.

Cole said, "I would expect that anybody whose name has been mentioned (in connection with the matter) should expect the opportunity to testify before the ethics committee.

"If they refuse to accept the opportunity to testify, they should expect to receive a subpoena."

Cole said he planned to argue for an investigation broad enough to determine whether any one else connected with the House has acted inappropriately toward pages.

Cole said he expected the ethics committee, which normally operates in complete secrecy, to "be more forthcoming and more transparent than we usually are."

"I want to get to the bottom of this," Cole said. "I take this deadly seriously.

"First and foremost, I'm worried about the safety of the kids and the obligation we owe them and their parents."

_____________
http://www.tulsaworld.com/BreakingNewsStory.asp?ID=061005_Br_abrkjonz

Attorney identifies Oklahoman referred to in Foley case
By World Capitol Buerau
10/5/2006 9:30:00 AM



Enid attorney Stephen Jones confirmed Thursday that he is representing Jordan Edmund, 21, a U.S. House page who is now working in the gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook.

The attorney would not say whether Edmund may be involved in the scandal regarding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley.

But Jones said, "It is my understanding there is both a Justice Department interest in this matter and also the House of Representatives Ethics Committee is interested.

"My feeling is that the House will move forward with its investigation. Since Mr. Foley is no longer a member of the House, I don't know whether the (House) Ethics committee will ultimately end up looking at this, or whether the committee in charge of the program will do so."

Istook issued a statement to the media Wednesday night saying, "It came as a compete surprise to learn (Wednesday) morning that one victim may be someone I know."

Istook did not identify the identify the "victim."

[Bledsoe]

For more information on the Page see:


http://okvoter.com/foley

AP Wire Report:

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/15685040.htm

[iplaw]

Duplicate Thread.  All this material was in the story posted earlier in another thread.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

Duplicate Thread.  All this material was in the story posted earlier in another thread.

Hey Bledsoe, Istook is already trailing in the polls, do we really need more sensational "guilt by association" piling on?


For more information on this topic, see this thread.

Further threads related to this subject will be simply deleted.