Purge the Congressional Page Program

When the Mark Foley scandal broke last Friday, I had two initial reactions.

First, I assumed that it had to be a political hit operation, and that may wind up being the case. Outing "openly closeted" Republicans is a rather vicious bloodsport, but given the fact that many of them oppose marriage equality to the extent that they want to amend the Constitution I consider it fair game. Rep. David Dreier, who may have a domestic partnership-style relationship with his Chief of Staff, falls into this category.

Second, I had to ask why there was even a page program in the first place. Beyond the expense, surely it is not healthy to place high school juniors and seniors in the lion's den of the Capitol cloakroom. It is the equivalent of placing chickens in between packs of wolves.

John Tierney in The New York Times notes that the Congressional page program helps those youths privileged enough to serve as pages realize that "Congress is the closest thing in modern America to a medieval court: an enclave governed by arcane ancient rules of seniority, a gathering of nobles who spend their days accepting praise and dispensing favors to supplicants."

In addition to being spared from the sexual pecadilloes of elected officials, Mr. Tierney argues that they need to be spared from "the chief lesson taught by the program: that success is all about making the right connections."

His full column may be found here (premium content).

Whatever the final disposition of Foleygate, it's high time to ABOLISH THE CONGRESSIONAL PAGE PROGRAM. Kudos to Rep. Ray LaHood for taking the lead on the issue.