The House Page Program Is Still A Mess

And the two Republican Representatives on the house page board have resigned out of frustration over the lack of leadership from the Democrats:

WASHINGTON - Two Republican House members resigned Thursday from the board supervising teenage pages, accusing a Democratic official of failing to inform them about sexual and criminal activity by at least four youngsters.

The board's Democratic chairman supported the Republicans, blaming House Clerk Lorraine Miller — the day-to-day administrator of the page program — for failing to immediately notify Page Board members of all the inappropriate conduct.

Miller, appointed by the House Democratic leadership, said she followed a zero-tolerance policy toward the teenagers, who were expelled and sent home. But she did not directly respond to the accusation that she was lax in telling the board what had happened.

The Representatives that resigned from the page board were Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida and Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, both Republicans.

Brown-Waite wrote a scathing letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., charging that she "learned nothing from the lessons of the Mark Foley scandal."

The Florida congresswoman said four pages have been dismissed this year "for serious criminal acts and for inappropriate sexual indiscretions." A House Republican official said the criminal activity involved shoplifting. The official could not be quoted by name because he wasn't authorized to comment on the issue.

Besides blaming Pelosi, Brown-Waite said Miller, the House clerk, was "slow to share information with members of the board.

"In at least one vitally important incident, we were intentionally kept in the dark about dismissals for more than a week, and were only given the details after personally confronting the clerk with rumors we had heard," Brown-Waite wrote.

The Page Board chairman, Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., said in a statement said, "The board was not satisfied with the manner and timeliness in which it was informed of these actions. Therefore, in our Page Board meeting of Nov. 9, 2007, the board unanimously agreed that the clerk of the House should immediately and simultaneously inform all members in cases where pages were dismissed from the program. Indeed, that was the case in the most recent incident."

Pelosi has promised an investigation:

"The House Page Board must undertake an immediate and thorough review of the adequacy of the supervision and security at the Page dorm. As a mother and a grandmother, nothing is more important to me than the safety and security of our House pages."

She needs an investigation, all right. It should, however, concentrate on the lack of leadership that continues to allow this program to be a mess. Specifically, the House Clerk, Lorraine Miller needs to be looked at regarding her unwillingness to inform the Republican members of the page board about serious incidents. When the safety and welfare of children entrusted to the government is at stake, there's no place for the kind of petty partisanship that Ms. Miller seems to have displayed. Someone with the kind of judgment that would even consider such partisan differences when dealing with the security and safety of these kids should be relieved of any responsibilities regarding the page program in addition to disciplinary action.

And Pelosi needs to beg the two Republicans to return - the balancing of political parties on the board was a good idea, and must be restored quickly.