New Times reporter Jeff Zeleny apparently left all his curiosity about Illinois politicians behind when he left the Chicago Tribune this fall for the Times.
His Saturday story on the Foley report, "Ethics Inquiry Faults Republicans, but Cites No Rule Violations [1]," begins:
"The House ethics committee said Friday that a nine-week investigation into former Representative Mark Foley's conduct had found that Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders were negligent in not shielding teenagers from inappropriate advances by Mr. Foley.
'But the panel also concluded that neither Mr. Hastert nor other officers of the House had violated any House rules, and recommended no sanctions for their failure to stop Mr. Foley's conduct."
As former political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Zeleny covered Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Emanuel's district includes the northwest side of Chicago). Yet Zeleny didn't bother to mention allegations raisedby the report, and reported by Time.com and CNN [2], that Emanuel may have known about the notorious Foley emails to pages, despiteEmanuel's flat denials earlier this year.
According to CNN: "The head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN.
"Foley, a Republican, resigned after the scandal broke. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans have suggested repeatedly that some Democrats knew about the e-mails earlier than they have acknowledged, but waited till midterm elections approached to bring up the issue.
"Emanuel's campaign committee aide said Friday that the Illinois Democrat was informed in 2005, but never saw the correspondence and did not have enough information to raise concerns. The aide said Emanuel took 'no action' because his knowledge was 'cursory' and little more than 'rumor.'
"The aide's acknowledgement differs from the flat 'no' Emanuel gave in October when asked - during an interview on ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' - if he or anyone on his staff knew of the e-mails before the scandal broke."