As Republican leaders wondered aloud Thursday how damaging the House page scandal will be in the midterm elections, they needed to look no further than hotly contested congressional races in Illinois.
GOP candidates in those key battles suddenly have found themselves answering–and sometimes ducking–questions about the Mark Foley sex scandal and how it was handled by their own leader, House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
That’s not to mention the impact a Democratically controlled House of Representatives would have in Illinois should Republicans lose their majority. Hastert has been a forceful advocate for Illinois’ interests.
“We were going to have a tough time as it is, even though things had really turned around the last three weeks,” U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) said of Republican fortunes in the Nov. 7 election.
“But let’s face it, all of us are facing questions from our constituents,” LaHood said. “I do think people like Peter Roskam and David McSweeney and Andrea Zinga–this presents a real problem for them.”
Roskam is in a fierce congressional contest with Democrat Tammy Duckworth, and McSweeney is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in two largely Republican suburban Chicago districts. Republican Andrea Zinga is seeking the Downstate seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.).
LaHood, speaking at a City Club luncheon on the Near North Side, voiced strong support for Hastert, his longtime friend and colleague. But he speculated that the fallout from the Foley matter could depress the spirits of conservative Republicans, a group that Illinois GOP congressional candidates desperately need to turn out in full force next month.
Before dipping even a toe in Washington, Roskam and McSweeney are facing a battery of questions about a scandal rocking the upper reaches of their party. Roskam has held firm to what many Republican candidates nationwide have said: He will await the results of a federal investigation before rendering any judgment on the matter.
Asked about Hastert’s role in the matter, Roskam reiterated that response. Hastert has been a crucial supporter of Roskam.
On Wednesday, Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.) said that he canceled a fundraiser with Hastert next Tuesday “until this is cleared up.”
Hastert had been scheduled to appear in more than 30 districts to stump for Republican congressional candidates in the coming month, but some of those are getting crossed off his calendar.
In Texas, Shelly Sekula Gibbs, who is seeking to replace Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas), the former House majority leader, said she withdrew her recent invitation to the speaker to attend a campaign event.
An event next week for Joy Padgett, a House candidate in Ohio, was canceled by the speaker’s office, a Padgett aide said.
For his part, Roskam was circumspect when asked if he would hold a fundraiser with the House speaker, again saying that he would like to see the results of the FBI investigation first.
“I think the Federal Bureau of Investigation has the tools to lay out the chronology clearly,” the Wheaton Republican said. “It’s a story that is changing literally now every two or three hours. Every time you go online there’s a new incarnation of a version of the story, and I’m going to wait for all the facts to lay themselves out in terms of who knew what, and when.”
Elsewhere in Illinois, Republicans in key races were still hoping to appear on a stage–most likely with Hastert–when President Bush visits Illinois next week.
David McSweeney, the Republican candidate against Bean in the north and northwest suburbs, said he sees no reason to do otherwise even though mistakes have “clearly been made.”
“There’s a lot of explaining that needs to be done at all levels of House leadership, and we need to get to the bottom of this quickly,” McSweeney said. “But Dennis Hastert is a man of integrity.”
Some Democratic candidates also tiptoed around the scandal, albeit not nearly as gingerly. Others came out blasting.
Democratic strategists debated just how vigorously to criticize Republicans, and how to go about it. One national Democratic congressional strategist said the party focus was to let Republicans conduct “a circular firing squad” and stay out of the fray.
U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who oversees the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, predicted that many of his candidates would call for the return of campaign donations given to their opponents by Foley. Emanuel said he does not foresee a paid media campaign that includes the scandal.
Duckworth has followed that lead, calling for Roskam to donate campaign money from national Republican leaders to a children’s charity but largely steering clear of the issue at public appearances.
One television ad for a Minnesota Democrat featured the scandal, although Emanuel said the candidate acted on her volition.
“I don’t know if this hurts, helps or whatever,” Emanuel said. “We’re trying to look at our big theme: The Republican Party is the status quo party and these guys are running as the status quo. People are angry at the status quo, and the only way to change Washington is to change the people we send there.”
Apparently shedding his Democratic Party label momentarily, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley joined other Illinois Republicans in worrying about the possibility of losing Hastert as speaker.
Daley noted Hastert’s central role in bringing Illinois–and Chicago–a wealth of federal resources, and he hasn’t shied away from aiding Chicago.
Hastert “has been very fair in appropriations … from the CTA to the airport, transportation, education,” Daley said. “He has been very helpful, not only for us but for Illinois.”
Daley stopped short of absolving Hastert from any responsibility in the page scandal, but when he was asked if the scandal provides a good chance for Democrats to retake the House, he replied, “I hope not on that issue, because this has nothing to do with the election. Let’s look at the real questions of the election. Let’s look at education. Let’s look at affordable housing. Let’s look at real issues. …”
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, after an appearance at a Republican fundraiser for McSweeney in Schaumburg, predicted that the Foley scandal would hurt Republicans nationwide in next month’s elections. But the possible 2008 presidential candidate also said it would not be the overriding issue to most Americans.
“Most of it’s going to be decided on the war in Iraq and on the economy and on the war on terror, largely because I think most people … realize that neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice,” Giuliani said.
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dmendell@tribune.com
cparsons@tribune.com
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Watch the complete Hastert news conference and read the transcript online at chicagotribune.com
