More Page Problems For Congress

From the ABC News blog, The Blotter:

Teenaged congressional pages performed oral sex in front of their colleagues for weeks before they were caught and expelled from the program, according to a new report in Roll Call newspaper.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to reform the page program, which brings dozens of 15- and 16-year-old students to live and study in Washington, D.C., while working as aides in congressional offices.

“As a mother and a grandmother, nothing is more important to me than the safety and security of our House pages,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The page program has been reportedly reformed at least once already in the past year, after former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., was exposed for sending inappropriate and suggestive e-mails and instant messages to teenaged former pages.

Two Republican lawmakers resigned their seats on the page program’s oversight board last week to protest what they said was a failure to inform them of misbehavior in the program which was leading to expulsions.

In addition to the two pages reportedly expelled for their oral sex performances, two other pages were reportedly expelled for shoplifting from stores at Washington, D.C.-area shopping malls. One was reportedly charged with a felony.

A December 7th post on The Blotter notes that the two pages were male and female. The sex acts took place in a dorm room while other pages kept lookout for adults. Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have announced that they are resigned from the panel that oversees the Congressional page program.