ABC News released some disturbing news Friday that could damage House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s standing in the House of Representatives.

One of its members, Florida Republican Mark Foley, 52, sent some questionable e-mails and sexually explicit instant messages to former congressional pages.

Hastert faces accusations of not reacting to the Foley scandal appropriately.

An editorial published in The Washington Times Monday asked for Hastert’s immediate resignation.

“This will continue to grow as an issue and pressure on Hastert [will also increase],” said Barbara Burrell, associate political science professor. “If The Washington Times, a very conservative newspaper, is calling for his resignation, that’s pretty serious. The news media will keep digging and digging to see what more they can find out. It’s possible, if any more things come out, the pressure could be so great that [Hastert] could resign or the people in this district won’t reelect him. I think that’s highly doubtful, though.”

Foley’s scandal alone may not be enough to bring down Hastert.

“One of the key things we know about public relations is it is very important to take action quickly and admit there is a problem,” said Walter Atkinson, director of development and public relations for the NIU communication department. “Since [Hastert] claims he was unaware of the situation, he can investigate and take positive action and hopefully follow through with guidelines. I think he’s fairly protected. There doesn’t seem to be that much risk for him providing that he steps up.”

In 2005, Foley sent inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old former congressional page from Louisiana, asking for the boy’s picture and what he wanted for his birthday. In another message, Foley referred to e-mailing another page. He calls the page “such a nice guy … [who] acts much older than his age … and [who is] in really great shape.”

A statement released from Hastert’s office Saturday stated, “In the fall of 2005, Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the speaker’s office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander’s chief of staff who indicated he had an e-mail exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page. He did not reveal the specific text of the e-mail but expressed that he and Congressman Alexander were concerned about it.”

The clerk and Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL), chairman of the page board, met with Congressman Foley. They questioned him about the e-mails and told him to stop all communication with the young man immediately. No further action was taken at the time.

On Friday, ABC News released sexually explicit instant messages from 2003 between Foley and former Congressional pages. This was the first time anyone in the House of Representatives saw the messages.

“No one in the Republican leadership … saw those messages until last Friday when ABC News released them to the public,” Hastert said in a statement Monday. “When they were released, Congressman Foley resigned. And I’m glad he did. If he had not, I would have demanded his expulsion from the House of Representatives.”

Hastert sent letters to the attorney general and Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush requesting an investigation to determine what state and federal laws Foley violated.

“Since I’ve been speaker, we have moved aggressively to insure the safety of [Congressional pages],” Hastert said. “We constructed new living quarters with state-of-the-art security systems. We have added more adult supervision. But we obviously need to do more, including providing assistance to these kids after they return home.”

All of these e-mails and instant messages occurred after the pages left Congress. Hastert asked the clerk to set up a hot line for pages or their families to confidentially report any inappropriate contact.

But some, including The Washington Times, do not think Hastert did enough. Hastert said Monday in a question and answer session, however, that he was unaware of the e-mails until Friday.

Stephanie Wise is a City Reporter for the Northern Star.