Oct. 6, 2006
 
Casey Challenges Blankenship, WV GOP, to Call for Hastert to Step Down as Speaker – ‘For Sake of the Kids’
 
By HNN Staff
 
Charleston, WV (HNN) – On Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey issued a challenge to Don Blankenship and the Republican candidates he’s endorsed: “As the de facto head of the state Republican party, who wields incredible influence over Republican legislative candidates because of the unprecedented amount of money he is spending on their behalf, Don Blankenship should call on Republican candidates to urge Dennis Hastert to resign as Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
 
“Mr. Hastert knew months ago about the inappropriate contact between Congressman Foley and House pages, and he did nothing. It has been suggested that Mr. Hastert failed to act in a timely fashion because of political considerations. I don’t know whether or not that is true but one has to wonder why he waited so long to investigate this troubling matter. As the conservative Washington Times put it in their editorial calling for Speaker Hastert to step down:
 
‘The evidence was strong enough long enough ago that the speaker should have relieved Mr. Foley of his committee responsibilities contingent on a full investigation to learn what had taken place, whether any laws had been violated and what action, up to and including prosecution, were warranted by the facts. This never happened… The matter wasn't pursued aggressively. It was barely pursued at all. Moreover, all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat… House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it?
 
Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.’” (October 3, 2006) “Mr. Blankenship has spent thousands of dollars putting up signs all over our state saying ‘Vote Your Values.’ Today, Mr. Blankenship and the candidates he has endorsed have a chance to show us just what they mean by that slogan,” said Casey. “Let them go on record today by saying, as the Washington Times has done, that Speaker Hastert should step down.”
 
“Let me be clear about this,” added Casey, “I understand and believe in my heart that Republicans and Democrats alike agree that Congressman Foley’s behavior was reprehensible and worthy of condemnation. As the Washington Times noted in their editorial ‘Sexual predators come in all shapes, sizes and partisan hues, in institutions within and without government.’ But the fact is, Mr. Hastert is not going to listen to Democratic leaders and Democratic office holders – he’s only going to listen those within his own party.”
 
“Mr. Blankenship considers himself to be a moral arbiter of what is right. In fact, in one recent column he suggests that most Democrats ‘frequently vote against West Virginia values and West Virginia’s children’ and urges voters to ‘vote for the sake of the kids and not for the sake of drunken drivers, plaintiff attorneys and pedophiles.’ (Huntington Herald Dispatch, August 29, 2006) Leaving aside the ridiculous and juvenile grouping of lawyers with those other two groups for a moment, Mr. Blankenship seems to suggest that voting for Democrats is like voting for drunken drivers and pedophiles.”
 
“So what about it, Mr. Blankenship? Do your values tell you to stand mute when a Republican Speaker of the House fails to act in a timely fashion against someone that really is preying on children? Or does Mr. Hastert’s party affiliation give him a free pass in your book?”