Rodney Alexander: Our Congressman
On November 7, we’ll also decide whether or not Rodney Alexander, the Republicrat from Quitman, should be reelected. Rodney’s been in the news a lot lately. First, there was the bizarre story about how he fired a secretary for sending love letters to convicted murderer and media darling Scott Peterson. (There are a number of questions here: Why would Alexander go public with a personnel decision? Did he fire this woman and then call up the media? “Boy, have I got a story for you!”).
And now, Rodney’s back in the news again.
It seems that one of his Congressional pages, a sixteen-year-old kid from Monroe, got creeped out when Congressman Mark Foley began sending him suggestive e-mails. Foley initially said he was concerned about the kid after Hurricane Katrina. (Because, as you know, Monroe is located right on the Gulf Coast). But once the story broke, other interns started talking about their encounters with the Florida Republican, providing additional e-mails and instant message transcripts so dirty that even ABC wouldn’t publish them.
Alexander was told about the e-mails. (Hey, Rodney, one of your colleagues is probably harassing young male Congressional pages!). Now, I ask, what would you do if you knew that a colleague was sending inappropriate e-mails to sixteen-year-old boys?
It appears that Mr. Alexander, who switched over the the GOP after milking the Louisiana Democratic Party, understood the political implications of such a scandal, and instead of waving the red flag, he called up his buddy, Representative Tom Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, an organization committed to electing Republicans. (Incidentally, Kirk Fordham, Reynold’s Chief of Staff, just resigned about two hours ago. Why do you think he felt pressured to resign?).
Congressman Alexander’s excuses are interesting– the boy’s family didn’t want to press charges, so he didn’t think it was a big deal. Yet, it was a big enough deal to call up the NRCC and alert them.
So let me get this straight: You find out your secretary has been sending love letters to Scott Peterson, and your first inclination is to contact the media. But when your former page, an underage boy, tells you about the creepy e-mails he received from a Congressman, you contact the NRCC (I believe this is called “damage control”).
Something doesn’t add up here, and already, members of Congress are calling for Alexander’s resignation.
On a Related Note: Foley’s Follies
Way back on September 12, 1998, Kenneth Starr, whose investigation into President Clinton’s Whitewater real estate dealings somehow turned into a story about an intern, published a work of erotic non-fiction known as The Starr Report. Members of Congress were disgusted and disturbed. One of those who seemed most disturbed was Florida Republican Mark Foley, who offered this now ironic analysis to the St. Petersburg Times. Quoting from the article:
“It’s vile,” said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. “It’s more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction.”
Source: MGB blog, St. Peterburg Times
CenLamar 
Now that’s more like it Lamar. Thanks for the new thread. I guess it will be o.k. to overlook Rodney’s lack of attention to this problem, since he “ain’t one of them liberal democrats, but a good, God-fearing republican”. Wonder what the fatass pill junkie, Rush Limpdick, thinks about it? I wouldn’t know since I can’t stand to listen to the pompous airbag. At least Bill Clinton went after women over 18.
Lamar, you’re right. Something’s fishy about the Scott Peterson story… I wonder if it will come out.
thanks. we’ve been saying for years that rodney alexander is a sack of dung.
You should know that our local democratic party is doing absolutely nothing in support of Ms. Hearn, a loyal dedicated yellow-dog democrat. Shame on us.
The reason Rodney came out with the secretary and Scott Peterson thing is that the prison staff recognized who she worked for. She wrote to the murdering SOB on Alexander stationary. She must be some kind of sicko. He did the right thing by letting her go and by self reporting…it would have hit the press anyway.
this is terrible. can someone tell me about Ms. Hearn. i am clueless
Regarding the page–different scenario. If the boy and his parents wanted to keep it quiet, Alexander probably needed to tread lightly. If he were trying to cover something up, he would not have called the parents. That was absolutely the right first step. Then tell House leadership and have them with you when reporting to law enforcement. Those Bushies are SO mean. If he would have called cops before them, they would have strung him up. I think he was not doing anything underhanded. He was following congressional protocol. I think any of you people would tell your bosses before you called the cops. Nothing sinister in that. Now, the question is whether Hastert’s office did what it was supposed to do.
Mrs. Hearn is the type of person you run from when she’s crossing the room to come and talk to you. That woman could drive any sane person to drink. She is certainly not the person for the Dems to back to knock Alexander out. IMHO, they’re going to have to wait 2 years and try it with a stronger candidate. If the Dems had known Alexander was going to have a problem, they probably could have enticed a strong candidate into the race…i.e, Randy Ewing. But this didn’t break before qualifying. No Dems approached by the party would bite back then.
Or we could oust Rodney right now and vote for the Libertarian candidate Brent Sanders.
Who is Brent Sanders? Where is he from? What’s his profession?
I think he’s from Alexandria, and he’s run for office before. I don’t know. I’ll try to find out more.
Look for Hastert and Rove to force Rodney to take the hit whether he deserves it or not. Those guys play SUPER rough.
Please tell me he’s not related to Kelvin Sanders. That’s the first thing I need to know. HAHAHA
No, definitely not related to Kelvin.
“The reason Rodney came out with the secretary and Scott Peterson thing is that the prison staff recognized who she worked for. She wrote to the murdering SOB on Alexander stationary. She must be some kind of sicko. He did the right thing by letting her go and by self reporting…it would have hit the press anyway.”
Let me go out on a limb here. I’m assuming this is the official line. Here’s the problem. When the story was first reported, it stated that Alexander’s office was contacted by the National Enquirer. So the Enquirer found out about this before Alexander did and in order to minimize damage, he leaked the story before the Enquirer could break it. That’s why he “self-reported;” no one wants to be on the front page of the National Enquirer. Still, something’s fishy about this. Perhaps Alexander’s office could provide copies of the letters in order to corroborate the claim that this woman wrote her letters on official stationary.
“Regarding the page–different scenario. If the boy and his parents wanted to keep it quiet, Alexander probably needed to tread lightly. If he were trying to cover something up, he would not have called the parents. That was absolutely the right first step. Then tell House leadership and have them with you when reporting to law enforcement. Those Bushies are SO mean. If he would have called cops before them, they would have strung him up. I think he was not doing anything underhanded. He was following congressional protocol. I think any of you people would tell your bosses before you called the cops. Nothing sinister in that. Now, the question is whether Hastert’s office did what it was supposed to do.”
Well, that’s funny, because Hastert’s office is saying something quite different, and when the story broke, it was reported that Alexander FIRST contacted the chair of the NRCC, who is NOT Alexander’s boss. It doesn’t seem like this is following proper protocol.
Remember, the mandated reporter law states that if you are aware of potential child abuse, sexual and physical, you’re required to report it. Of course, I’m not sure this applies to Congressmen, but I can’t accept the excuse that the Bushies are mean and that Alexander was worried about any political repurcissions he could have endured by alerting the proper authorities of a potential child predator.
Lamar:
That is a good point about the mandated reporting law re: child abuse. There may be a big problem for Alexander.
I guess the Republicans now regret their stabbing Jock Scott in the back two years ago when Rodney Alexander jumped from the Democratic Party to the Republican party. What goes around comes around…………
Mrs. Hearn is a nice older woman who doesn’t really have a clue about what goes on between here and Washington.
All the more reason to elect her……..
repurcissions=repercussions.
yeah gloria doesn’t stand a chance….. i want to know more about this sanders guy
They didn’t exactly stab Jock – he WAS offered a judge position if he would back out of the race. He felt more compelled to turn down the offer and run. They played politics as usual.
Rodney is doing the same thing. He probably did self report on the secretary’s letters. He said he went to the chair of the NRCC and went to Hasert’s staff. On the family asking to keep quiet – think back to when you were 16, would you want the world to know that some sleezy “old” congressman wanted you to strip for him and have the whole world know?
I’m not going to defend Rodney on these points, but I will say he has worked hard to get funding back into the district that would have been difficult to do without the experience he has had on the hill. You have to understand the process and know that right now Louisiana is extremely vunerable in D.C. We lost a ton of power when Breaux retired and we are now rebuilding that power. Landrieu bucks the system, but still manages to bring money home. Vitter brings money home. Jindal is working to bring money home. McCrary is working to bring money home.
Louisiana has to work as a team and with the power in charge, whoever that is at the time to help bring federal dollars home – something Trent Lott did very well for Mississippi no matter who was in the White House.
I read an article on the drudge report this morning, which said the page was 18 years old when Foley was emailing him.
The Palm Beach Newspaper stated he would turn 18 in a few days.
Well in Louisiana at least he would be okay. Our age of consent is 17. I do not know what the age of consent is in the District of Columbia. Maybe it is: “if there’s fluff on the muff, she is old enough.” This, however, would not apply to Foley.
Here are the vulgar IMs: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=1
By the way, Brent Sanders is a local businessman who has worked with the Battered Women’s Shelter as an advocate and is presently working in Information Technology. He is NOT a politician. He is a man who wants to put the people and the people’s needs back into Washington. And he is willing to temporarily give up his life in Alexandria to serve as the people’s voice and the people’s vote. Obviously, I have a very high esteem for him.
For you history types, he is a modern Cincinatti.
For you old movie buffs, he is a modern Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Personally, I am thrilled that Alexander’s indiscretions and poor decision making is coming out in the open because finally people may vote for the person rather than the party. It is time to let the yellow dog lie – – –
At this point I like Brent Sanders best of all. I certainly can’t stomach Rodney and Gloria.
Here’s a golden oldie for you holier than thou democrats. Now come down from your high horse.
Gerry Eastman Studds (born May 12, 1937) is a retired American politician, born in Mineola, New York. He served as a Democratic Congressman for Massachusetts from 1973 until 1997. He was the first openly homosexual member of the US Congress and, more generally, the first openly gay national politician in the US. In 1983, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male page in 1973 and was censured by the House of Representatives.
Don’t throw Gloria Hearn out as a possible replacement for Alexander the snake. (Her rural Luziana drawl can’t be worse than his.) I don’t know her personally, but have seen her persistence in accomplishing goals for the public good- primarily in childhood education. I just checked for a website, and found http://www.hearnforcongress.com. She is certainly Southern Baptist through and through, but doesn’t let her religion drive her views about what Congress ought to focus its energies on. Take a look and see for yourself if she would be an improvement over the incumbent. Her platform stated on the website is quoted here:
“There are many issues I could discuss but I am focusing on what I believe are the most critical issues this country has faced in a long time.
The War in Iraq -The biggest issue is the war in Iraq. The American people were misled to believe there were weapons of mass destruction. Instead of trying some diplomacy, the administration chose to attack in a preemptive war without the support of other nations that were vital to success. You and I both know that this was an ill-conceived war. We all did our best to be supportive because we all love our country and are vigilant in our patriotic duty. As it became clear that we had been misled and began to express our doubts about the wisdom of the war, we were accused of being unpatriotic.
Now we know that the most patriotic thing we can do is to stop the killing of so many human beings and work toward a resolution to this huge mistake. We are sending billions of dollars to Iraq while programs needed in this country are cut every day. This is such a mess encompassing a myriad of problems associated with it that our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will be saddled with the debt incurred by this misguided war.
The Economic Health of the Nation – The spiraling deficit is now in the billions, and grows every day. Our Republican friends are not known for tolerating waste in management; hence, it is very perplexing as to why some of them continue to watch the deficit grow with no end in sight.
In the words of former Senator J. Bennett Johnson, “Democrats may have been guilty of trying to do too much for too many people, but I’d rather be accused of trying to do too much than be mean-spirited and keeping others away from the table.”
Education – it is unconscionable that this President, who has no education experience, crammed the “No Child Left Behind” down our education system after making unrealistic requirements, and then failing to appropriate adequate funding. In actuality, instead of helping education, this program has set education back with excessive testing that has created a system where the administration pushes teachers who are pushing children to “pass the test” instead of teaching them what they need to know to live a successful, productive life, and how to think and get along with others. Instead we are losing our best teachers and administrators, and we are turning out children who have inadequate experience in real thinking and problem solving; thereby, they must opt to line up with the “right” group and actually are more prone to be enlisted to line up with the “right” party. Of course the “right” wing is identified as the GOP, and some even think God is spelled GOP. We must stand up to this kind of nonsense. No one party has the patent on God, and as a Democrat, I find it offensive and repulsive that the extreme right wing group purports that if you are a Christian, you have to belong to the Republican Party. Friends, I resent that inference, and I am surprised that so many people have been hood-winked into such biased thinking. Democrats believe in God, but we recognize the right of every person to have their views respected.
Veteran and Military Benefits – Veteran and military benefits have been altered and cut so that money could be sent to Iraq — that is a sin and a shame! We should show gratitude to the men and women who have fought to keep our country free. With proper respect, we need to upgrade care for them.
Our National Security – Our borders and ports are not secure because they are under funded — again, so more money could be sent to Iraq.
Outsourcing Jobs – Outsourcing jobs to other countries instead of providing the opportunities for our own workers is a crime against our youth when we deny them the training and jobs they deserve and need here in our own country.
Position on other important issues:
Abortion – I am against abortion at will, and against the extra-marital affairs that frequently are the reasons behind requests for abortion. I do not feel that the constitution should be amended concerning the abortion issue.
Flag Burning – I am against flag burning, but although this is an important issue, I do not feel that the constitution should be amended to include articles against burning the flag.
Marriage – Although I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, I also feel that this issue should not be prioritized at the expense of other issues such as the War in Iraq, our national budget, and education at this time.
Last, but not least, all of us need to be reminded that God has blessed our country. God is not a Republican as some would have you believe, but I also remind you that God is not a Democrat, nor is he a Libertarian, a Constitutionalist, nor even an Independent. God is God of all creation – all time, space, and ruler of all events. He is the God who created each of us in His image with a brain that He expects us to use. He created each of us in unique, special ways with gifts and talents that He expects us to use for His glory and to our benefit.”