New Orleans NPR WWNO: Chief of Staff of Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander testifies before House Ethics Committee

Ethicsnewsscandal
Written By Matt Laslo
Logo of LCB public radio client WWNO in New Orleans, Louisiana

Suggested host intro: Last week the House Ethics Committee began an investigation into former Republican Florida Congressman Mark Foley’s illicit IM conversations with underage house pages. Yesterday (Monday) Royal Alexander testified before the Ethics Committee; he is Chief-of-Staff to Republican Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander. Matt Laslo on Capitol Hill with the report.

NARR: In prior statements Chief of Staff Royal Alexander said that he complained to Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s office about “overly friendly” e-mails from Foley to one of their offices male pages last fall. But Hastert insists he didn’t learn of Foley’s e-mails until the Congressman stepped down.

Royal Alexander still defends his handling of the problem.

CHIEF-ALEXANDER-BEGINNING :07 “ We’ve done what we should from the very beginning and I’m proud of our office and proud of our page.”

Congressman Alexander is set to testify to the Ethics Committee Wednesday.

 From Capitol Hill, I'm Matt Laslo for eighty-nine point nine, WWNO.

Matt Laslo

The LCB’s founder, veteran political correspondent Matt Laslo, has brought Washington, DC to life for millions (73+ million on last count) of listeners, viewers and readers. He’s reported for five Pulitzer Prize-winning news outlets, 60+ award-wining local NPR outlets, nonprofit newsrooms and national magazines. He also runs the popular interactive journalism startup Ask a Pol Politics — a Substack bestseller.

Laslo’s groundbreaking generative AI coverage has been cited in 13+ law reviews, think tanks and a fiery letter Sen. Elizabeth Warren letter penned to OpenAI founder Sam Altman. His data privacy reporting for WIRED is cited in 25+ law reviews — including Cornell, Duke and Harvard. His tech features are assigned reading at NYU, UNC Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins and DePaul. Laslo’s also cited as a government reform expert in 20+ (mostly) books, while his “war on drugs,” opioid epidemic and criminal justice reform features are quoted in 25 law reviews and books.

https://mattlaslo.com
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