Who knew what, when?

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 | 7:47 a.m.

Rep. Jon Porter said, "Former Rep. Foley's actions are inexcusable and if anyone, whether that be a member or staffer, had prior knowledge about the gravity of this situation and did nothing to rectify it, they should be removed from their positions." Porter did not name anyone. He also called for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to suspend the page program until the FBI probe is complete.

Porter's Democratic challenger, Tessa Hafen, said she was appalled at Porter's unwillingness "to press House leaders accused of hiding the truth about crimes involving one of their own."

Rep. Shelley Berkley said rather than suspend the page program, "I think we ought to suspend Congress and keep the kids working."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, the GOP candidate for governor, said, "Certainly if there's a thorough and aggressive investigation and it's shown the speaker was involved, then he should be held accountable."

When U.S. Rep. Jon Porter's re-election campaign hit the airwaves, it was with an advertisement touting the Republican Nevada congressman's legislation to protect children from sexual predators.

Now, his party is embroiled in a scandal involving former Florida Rep. Mark Foley, a legislative ally of Porter's who resigned Friday following the revelation last week that he sent sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage congressional pages.

Although he worked with Foley on legislation to prevent pedophiles from becoming teachers, Porter, like his Republican colleagues, now is trying to distance himself from the disgraced former congressman.

The evolving scandal - less than three weeks before early voting begins in Nevada - comes at an especially inconvenient time for Porter, who has made his efforts to protect children from predators a central part of his campaign.

To keep his message consistent, Porter now must show toughness in his reaction to the scandal.

In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Tuesday, he called for the Illinois Republican to suspend the page program until the FBI's probe of the scandal is complete.

"I greatly appreciate the service that the Page Program provides us; however, I also believe strongly that until a full and comprehensive investigation has concluded, and additional safeguards have been installed that guarantee the well-being of these extraordinary young men and women that we must temporarily suspend the Congressional Page Program's legislative activities," Porter wrote.

But working with Hastert to fix the problem might not be the best move for Porter.

Questions have intensified in recent days about why Republican leaders in the House did not act more aggressively when they found out months ago about e-mails from Foley that disturbed a teenage page and his parents.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., who runs the House Republican campaign effort, have said they informed Hastert about some of the e-mails months ago.

Hastert has said he doesn't recall learning about the messages until late last week.

Porter said through an aide Tuesday that he, too, knew nothing of Foley's inappropriate communications with young pages until news of it broke late last week.

(Porter refused to directly answer questions from the Sun about the case. His staff said that the congressman would respond only to written questions and would answer in writing. The Sun declined, on the grounds that it wished to speak directly to Porter.)

Even as conservative voices across the nation call for Hastert's resignation, Porter has stopped short of calling for the speaker to step down.

In a statement Tuesday, Porter said: "Former Rep. Foley's actions are inexcusable and if anyone, whether that be a member or staffer, had prior knowledge about the gravity of this situation and did nothing to rectify it, they should be removed from their positions."

But when pressed about whether that implied Hastert should step down, Porter's chief of staff Mike Hesse said no one should be called upon to step down until an FBI probe of the scandal is complete - something that is not likely to happen until after the Nov. 7 midterm elections.

Still, the expansiveness of the scandal is clear.

"I think in some ways, Congress is going to have to learn the same thing the Catholic Church learned," Hesse said.

In a story published Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times, several young congressional staffers said it was well known on Capitol Hill that Foley had an interest in younger men.

Some of the exchanges between Foley and teenage pages occurred as far back as 2003.

"We needed to address this three years ago," Porter said Monday at a Nevada Republican Men's Club luncheon at the Ellis Island Casino in Las Vegas.

But Porter's opponent, Democrat Tessa Hafen, accused him Tuesday of failing to act now. "Jon Porter has campaigned on stopping sexual predators before they can strike, but I am appalled to see he is now unwilling to press House leaders accused of hiding the truth about crimes involving one of their own," she said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said suspending the page program doesn't make sense to her.

"I think that's the most preposterous suggestion I've heard yet. Why punish these kids for the behavior of the U.S. Congress?" she said. "I think we ought to suspend Congress and keep the kids working."

Nevada's third House member, Rep. Jim Gibbons, the GOP candidate for governor, said he, too, was appalled by the revelations about Foley.

"Certainly if there's a thorough and aggressive investigation and it's shown the speaker was involved, then he should be held accountable," Gibbons said. "I don't have a problem with that."

Porter and Gibbons both have been involved with Foley in getting sex offender legislation passed.

Porter and Foley were part of the Suburban Agenda Caucus, a group of congressmen focused on pro-family legislation.

The caucus helped get the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act passed in March - giving the Porter campaign a theme for an early TV spot. The measure provided states and local school districts additional tools to protect children from the risks of sexual predators by giving access to federal databases to ensure pedophiles and other violent criminals are not hired as teachers.

Porter wrote the part of the law related to fingerprinting-based background checks for teachers.

According to a release at the time from Suburban Agenda Caucus Chairman Mark Kirk, R-Ill., the act was a "key provision of the Suburban Agenda proposed by myself, Jon Porter and Mark Foley."

On Tuesday, Porter's chief of staff downplayed the connection to Foley.

"They are all members of the Suburban Caucus," Hesse said. "Our legislation was our legislation."

Gibbons sent out a press release in June 2005 expressing his "ardent support for legislation introduced by ... Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to overhaul the nation's sex offender laws."

"I am proud to have Congressman Gibbons joining me in this fight," Foley said.

Like Porter, Gibbons now is distancing himself from Foley.

"That's exactly why we need to have tough sexual predator laws," Gibbons said Tuesday of the scandal.

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