2006.12.08: December 8, 2006: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Appropriations: Five Year Rule: Crime : Tucson Citizen: Top Administrator says Kolbe 'spent far too much time' with pages
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2006.10.14: October 14, 2006: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Appropriations: Five Year Rule: Crime: Arizona Daily Star: Federal prosecutors have opened a "preliminary assessment" into allegations surrounding a camping trip outgoing Rep. Jim Kolbe took with two former pages and others in 1996 :
2006.12.08: December 8, 2006: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Appropriations: Five Year Rule: Crime : Tucson Citizen: Top Administrator says Kolbe 'spent far too much time' with pages
Top Administrator says Kolbe 'spent far too much time' with pages
Jeff Trandahl, the former Clerk of the House, testified during the ethics panel's investigation of the Foley matter, that Kolbe was spending too much time with teenage pages - just as Foley did. "I viewed (Kolbe), too, as putting himself at risk," Trandahl said. "He spent far too much time interacting with the pages. I was uncomfortable with it." Kolbe a 22-year Republican Congressman from southern Arizona is set to retire next month but has been drawn into the Foley scandal, involving a number of sexually suggestive instant messages and e-mails to former pages.
Top Administrator says Kolbe 'spent far too much time' with pages
Report: Kolbe 'spent far too much time' with pages
By BLAKE MORLOCK
Tucson Citizen
The former top administrator in the U.S. House of Representatives told the House Ethics Committee that Congressman Jim Kolbe may have 'spent far too much time interacting with the pages.'
The statement was part of a Congressional report issued today that found Republican lawmakers and aides left male pages vulnerable to Rep. Mark Foley's improper sexual advances..
Kolbe a 22-year Republican Congressman from southern Arizona is set to retire next month but has been drawn into the Foley scandal, involving a number of sexually suggestive instant messages and e-mails to former pages.
Jeff Trandahl, the former Clerk of the House, testified during the ethics panel's investigation of the Foley matter, that Kolbe was spending too much time with teenage pages - just as Foley did.
"I viewed (Kolbe), too, as putting himself at risk," Trandahl said. "He spent far too much time interacting with the pages. I was uncomfortable with it."
Trandahl testified that he warned Kolbe, his chief of staff Fran McNaught and his administrative assistant Patrick Baugh that the Congressman needed to stop.
According to the panel's report on the investigation, Trandahl's advice was not heeded and Kolbe told his own staff to "mind their own business."
No one at Kolbe's office answered or returned phone calls today but in an Oct. 10 statement about the matter, Kolbe touted his interest in the page program.
He got his start in politics as a page for former Sen. Barry Goldwater and has taken an interest in the program. He even served on the page board from 1996 to 2001.
"I visit with the Pages at the back of the chamber to explain politics and parliamentary procedures on the House Floor," Kolbe said. "I have written college and graduate school recommendations for scores of the young men and women, and I have always participated in various official page activities when asked to do so by the program, such as speaking at their graduation."
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Headlines: December, 2006; Congress; Legislation; Appropriations; Five Year Rule; Crime
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Story Source: Tucson Citizen
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Congress; Legislation; Appropriations; Five Year Rule; Crime
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