Reply #23: DEMANDS THAT U.S. REP. JOHN SHIMKUS RESIGN

[wiley]

October 2, 2006


DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE DANNY L. STOVER DEMANDS THAT U.S. REP. JOHN SHIMKUS RESIGN
AS CHAIR OF HOUSE PAGE PROGRAM IN WAKE OF FOLEY E-MAIL SCANDAL

Springfield, IL – October 2, 2006

Centralia city councilman Danny L. Stover, the Democratic candidate for Illinois’s 19th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, demands that incumbent Representative John M. Shimkus resign immediately as Chairman of the Board of the House Page Program due to Shimkus’s failure to investigate diligently allegations about Florida Congressman Mark Foley’s inappropriate exchange of electronic mail and Internet messages with at least one former page. Stover insists that Rep. Shimkus was obviously the wrong choice to conduct an investigation a year ago, and is even more convinced that Speaker Hastert’s decision to ask Shimkus to investigate further is yet another error.

Rep. Shimkus neglected his specific duties as chairman, Stover complains, and Shimkus appeared to be more concerned about politics than protecting the well-being of the victim identified in the current news reports. The news reports suggest other victims may exist, and all victims were presumably minors when the alleged incidents occurred. Stover is concerned that the congressman failed to conduct even a modest investigation of potentially serious wrongdoing, Shimkus instead having simply accepted assurances of the accused that nothing inappropriate had taken place.

Stover asserts that there was an obvious cover-up by Shimkus and other GOP House members, evidenced by Shimkus’s admission that the sole Democratic member of the Board, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), was not told of the e-mail exchanges until they became front-page news.

Stover adds this latest incident to a litany of failures to carry out congressional oversight duties, and to show proper judgment, on the part of Rep. Shimkus.

Councilman Stover, as a father, expresses personal concern and sympathy for the victims and their families during this difficult time.

Kay Marie Philon
Sangamon County Project Coordinator
[e-mail]
206 South Sixth Street Springfield, IL 62701
217.891.7038