Kurt Fordham: "I have no congressman and no office to protect."

[sabra]

http://www.nysun.com/article/41078

GOP Staffer Turns Into Whistleblower, Threatening Those He Loyally Served

WASHINGTON — For 20 years, Kirk Fordham was a loyal staffer and strategist — rising from his early days as a Capitol Hill intern to the coveted post of chief of staff to a senior American congressman.

...

"I have no reason to state anything other than the facts," Mr. Fordham wrote in an e-mail sent to the Los Angeles Times from his personal account."I have no congressman and no office to protect."

Mr. Fordham's assertion Wednesday that he informed House Speaker Dennis Hastert's top aide more than two years ago of Mr. Foley's "inappropriate" behavior with teenage House pages directly contradicted claims from the Illinois Republican and other leaders that they did not know the full scope of Mr. Foley's problems until news reports appeared last week of his lurid instant message exchanges with boys as long as three years ago.

Mr. Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, denied Mr. Fordham's account in a terse, one-sentence statement. But Mr. Fordham's decision to speak publicly, coming one day after President Bush offered a stout defense of Mr. Hastert amid calls for the speaker's resignation, handed more fodder to Democrats and other critics who are accusing the GOP of a cover-up. And it put Mr. Fordham in the center of a burgeoning scandal at the height of a heated election campaign that was already shaping up as a possible defeat for the GOP majority.

from Hastert press conference:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/10/hastert_briefin.html

REPORTER: Kirk Fordham said he passed along info up to three years ago.

HASTERT: You know, it's interesting. Kirk Fordham also said as late as, or just about, three or four days ago, that he worked for this guy for 10 years and he never did anything wrong. So there's a little bit of difference in the testimony of what he said.

Hastert's team must be sweating...

[Kagemusha]

1. Shorter Hastert: Gee, new tune now that we tossed him overboard.

Yes. It is.