ETHICS PANEL FAULTS GOP LEADERS IN FOLEY CASE

WASHINGTON — In a coda to a year of political disasters for Republicans, the House Ethics Committee said Friday that GOP lawmakers and staff members for years remained "willfully ignorant" that former Rep. Mark Foley was making sexual advances toward male congressional pages.

Driven by political considerations and fear of exposing Foley's homosexuality, they failed in their duty to protect the teenagers, the committee concluded in its report on the scandal. And, the panel said, congressional officials ignored evidence of predatory behavior by the Florida Republican that began emerging more than 10 years ago.

Despite these criticisms, the bipartisan ethics panel found that no House rules were broken in the handling of the Foley case. And though it noted that senior advisors to outgoing House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) were among those who were warned years ago of Foley's improprieties, the committee did not determine there had been a systematic cover-up of the matter.

The report's lack of sanctions drew quick condemnation from government reform groups, which characterized the committee's nine-week investigation as a sham.

"It's just unfathomable how you can reach the conclusion that wrongdoing occurred

Hastert issued a brief statement in which he praised the panel's work and said he was "glad the committee made clear that there was no violation of any House rules by any member or staff."

Nonetheless, the report's harsh critique was another black mark on the GOP, whose losses in last month's midterm election cost it control of the House and Senate and capped a period of scandals and failed legislative initiatives. Along with Foley, four GOP lawmakers -- including onetime House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas -- have resigned amid scandal since 2005. On the legislative front, the party stalemated this year on a number of key issues, including immigration overhaul and controlling federal spending.

Growing public discontent with the war in Iraq created an especially tough political environment for Republicans in this year's campaign. And in the eyes of many political experts and strategists in both parties, the Foley scandal was the final blow that crushed GOP hopes of retaining its congressional majorities.

The Ethics Committee probe began after news reports in late September of sexually explicit messages between Foley, 52, and a former House page, revelations that caused the 12-year House member to immediately resign his seat.