Nauseating

While we now know in disgusting detail about former Rep. Mark Foley's fetishes and proclivities, there remain some crucial unanswered questions in this wretched scandal.

The most obvious and pressing is (as the front page of the HuffPo puts it): What did they know and when did they know it? (They being the GOP leadership.) If you have only paid passing attention to the story, Josh Marshall has done yeoman's work keeping careful track of the various answers to this question that have been forthcoming from the Hill.

Here's what the GOP leaders have to understand and now: Internal investigations are insufficient here. And while referring the matter to the House Ethics Committee is the right first step, it has to be rapidly followed by actual action by the House Ethics Committee, a body with a mixed history that has fallen into partisan disrepair in recent years.

Another aspect that could be vitally important or merely a window into the political bunker-mentality that colors all reactions in a drum-tight election year has to do with the reaction of Rep. Rodney Alexander, whose staff was apparently the first to get wind of Foley's troubling emails to a former page. As Marshall notes:

Finally, one detail here isn't getting enough attention. Rep. Alexander (R-LA), the first member of Congress to be alerted to the problem, says he contacted the NRCC. That's the House Republicans' election committee, a political organization entirely separate from the House bureaucracy and the Congress. (The head of the NRCC this cycle is Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY).) That is, to put it mildly, not in the disciplinary and administrative chain of command of the House of Representatives. Considering that the issue involved a minor, it seems highly inappropriate to discuss the matter with anyone not charged with policing the House. More to the point, however, you tell the head of the NRCC because you see the matter as a political problem. Reynolds is the one in charge of making sure Republican House seats get held. If an incumbent might have drop out or be kicked out you want him to know so that he can line up someone to replace him. You at least want to keep him abreast of the situation if you think a problem might develop. I cannot see any innocent explanation for notifying the head of the NRCC while not information the full membership of the page board.

This will almost certainly turn out to be the rare instance in politics where the scandal is actually worse than any cover-up -- but if there is (or was) a cover-up, it will be bad enough.