Interview with Right Wing News

by Matt Margolis :: May 30, 2007 11:04 AM

Mark and I were interviewed by John Hawkins of Right Wing News. Here is an excerpt:

John Hawkins: Last year, the Republican Party was rocked by the Mark Foley congressional page scandal. Can you give us some examples of Democratic sex scandals and compare them?

Matt Margolis: The Mark Foley scandal, as bad as it was (we're certainly glad he's gone) doesn't even hold a candle to various sex scandals that have happened to Democrats, and the response to them is also quite different, as we detail in Caucus of Corruption.

For instance, in the 1980's, Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) was revealed to have had a sexual affair with a male congressional page.  At the same time, Rep. Dan Crane (R-IL) was revealed to have had an affair with a female congressional page. Both decided to let the voters of their districts decide their fates. Crane, the Republican, was voted out. Studds, the Democrat, was reelected, and would be reelected 6 more times until his retirement. Another Massachusetts Democrat, Barney Frank, was caught up in a sex scandal of his own, and he still serves today as Chairman of the House Finance Services Committee.

Mark Noonan:  Another example would be former congressman Mel Reynolds (D-IL) who was indicted on child pornography and rape charges in August 1994, and reelected that November with 98% of the vote. He was later convicted on those charges, and on separate charges a couple years later, only to be pardoned by President Bill Clinton just before he left office.

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