The Vatican Has a New Dome

And I thought the Catholic Church had cornered the market on pedophile cover ups. From PageOneQ:

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) issued a statement Saturday in which he said that he had informed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) of allegations of improper contacts between then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and at least one former male page, contradicting earlier statements from Hastert.

GOP sources said Reynolds told Hastert earlier in 2006, shortly after the February GOP leadership elections. Hastert's response to Reynolds' warning remains unclear.

Hastert's staff insisted Friday night that he was not told of the Foley allegations and are scrambling to respond to Reynolds' statement.

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), resigned yesterday after it was discovered that he'd been involved in sexual electronic exchanges with minors, in this case congressional pages on the Hill. Though he is a gay man, he was not a favorite of gay rights advocates. As a closeted gay Republican, Foley voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. Anything to stay in office, right?

I won't publish his e-mails to Hill pages (too graphic for this site). Here is ABC's video coverage. They mention some of the tamer but still incredibly creepy parts.

And here (from the St. Petersburg Times) is what Foley had to say about Clinton back in 1998.

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."

UPDATE:Now it appears that it was known Foley had a thing for underage pages five years ago and no one did a thing to protect them.