Ex-House Clerk May Be a Key in Foley’s Case

This is a quiet job, usually. Jeff Trandahl, former clerk of the House of Representatives, was little known outside of Congress until recently. And on Thursday, Mr. Trandahl is scheduled to testify before the House Ethics Committee to either corroborate, or contradict, accusations that Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) knew about Foley's sexual advances toward underage pages at least three years ago.

It is said of Mr. Trandahl that he played by the rules. It is also said that he is quite adept at navigating the waters of an institution known for protecting its own. “When the rest of the trees blow down, Jeff Trandahl will be left standing up,” said Craig Shniderman, executive director of Food & Friends, who has known Mr. Trandahl for nearly a decade.

Mr. Trandahl is a gay Republican who also had a bird's eye view of what was happening in Congress. Republicans have long held a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays amongst them. Mr. Trandahl never dwelled on his sexuality. However, he also did not go to extreme lengths to conceal it, unlike Mr. Foley, who publicly acknowledged he is gay only after resigning this month.

Part of the Clerk's job is to oversee the Congressional page program, which meant that concerns about the page's welfare and conduct were routed to Trandahl. Every year, he sent some of them home for inappropriate behavior: drinking, smoking pot, or just misbehavior.

"Over the years, people who worked with him on the Hill said, Mr. Trandahl received periodic complaints that Mr. Foley was acting too friendly to the pages or interns.

The House ethics committee is trying to determine whether Mr. Trandahl simply passed along the information to Kirk Fordham, a longtime aide to Mr. Foley, or whether he alerted the speaker’s office that Mr. Foley’s overfriendly behavior had grown beyond idle gossip."

And Mr. Trandahl is not discussing the case until he testifies on Thursday.

Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) says he alerted Trandahl about Foley's behavior five years ago. Last year, Trandahl and Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) confronted Foley over email messages Foley sent to a former page from Louisiana.

Somehow, I think that Denny Hastert is sweating bullets over Trandahl's testimony