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Rep. Foley
October 6, 2006





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.
Read the article!!


Discussion Starters

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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?
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