Representative Foley (A Think)

The Washington Post is running an article this morning entitled, Inquiry to Look at House, Not Foley. It reports on consequences of Representative Foley's sexually explicit advances towarsd underage pages. The article begins:

The House ethics committee launched a wide-ranging investigation into Congress's handling of information about a Florida lawmaker and teenage pages yesterday, as Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) vowed to keep his job, saying, "I haven't done anything wrong."
The ethics panel approved nearly four dozen subpoenas for documents and testimony from House members, officers and aides. Its leaders said they plan to complete the inquiry in a matter of weeks, but not necessarily before the Nov. 7 congressional elections.

I couldn't refuse putting this article in here this morning. There are just so many different topics that emerge from it - even if you don't discuss the actual article with your students.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Unfortunately, authority figures can not always be trusted to do the right thing. In this case, Representative Foley was making sexually explicit advances at underage pages. Help students understand that there are certain things that they should never have to accept from anybody. For example, nobody should ever touch them in an inappropriate way. Help students understand that there is always an adult whom they can trust and confide in. If somebody is doing something bad to them then they should find an adult who isn't doing something bad to them and tell the adult.
2. Many Democrats and conservative Republicans (yes, an odd alignment) are calling for Speaker Hastert's resignation. Several high ranking House Republicans report that they told Hastert about Foley's inappropriate behavior a long time ago. Hastert said that he knew nothing about Foley's advances. What type of responsibility does a leader, in this case the Speaker, have for other's behavior? What if Hastert indeed knew nothing about Foley's behavior, does he have a responsibility to know about it? You might faciliate a conversation in which students discuss these questions.
3. There is a question as to whether or not Speaker Hastert should resign. Ask students to interview people in their family to find out their opinions. Students might have to first explain the situation to family members before asking for their opinions on it. Students can use the article to develop a summary of the situation.
4. There has been some talk as to whether or not the Justice Department, a department within the Executive Branch, has the right to enter a congressman's office, an office within the Legislative Branch, of the United States government and conduct a search. The United States Constitution lays out a structure of "Separation of Powers." Do students think that one branch of government has the right to investigate another branch? What if nobody investigated Congressman Foley, what kinds of things could have happened? What if the Executive Branch decided that they wanted to investigate everything that occurred within the offices of congressmen, what kinds of things could happen? You might ask students to write a paper in which they take an opinion on this issue. You might even have them blog it. You might also choose to have students develop a debate over this issue. Students in the class could take positions and participate in a formal debate. (You might podcast it.) This idea certainly seems like a civics debate. In what ways could it also be used in a literature class?

Edit and expand upon these lesson ideas on our Lesson Wiki.