Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Ind. congressman says he asked for FBI to investigate peer
By Chris Freiberg
Indiana Daily Student (Indiana U.)
10/09/2006

(U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Rep. Mike Sodrel sat at a corner table with a handful of supporters at Smokin' Jack's Rib Shack, carefully picking at the half slab of sweet BBQ ribs before him.

The first-term congressman didn't get a drop of sauce on his pinstripe suit.

"This is one of his favorite places to eat in Bloomington (Indiana)," Sodrel's Bloomington office manager Chris Crabtree said. "He made sure we stopped here."

Even among the party faithful, the topic that came up again and again was Mark Foley. The six-term Florida congressman, a Republican, resigned last week amid allegations he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to underage male pages.

"I didn't work with him. I didn't serve on any committees with him," Sodrel said. "There are 435 members of Congress ... I recognized his face on TV, and that's about the extent of how I knew him."

Soon after the allegations came out, Sodrel said he contacted House Speaker Dennis Hastert, asking for an FBI investigation into the matter.

"I want people to be comfortable that someone outside the House is conducting the investigation," Sodrel said. "I don't think people have any real level of confidence in the ability of the House to investigate itself. Look at their track record. The (House) ethics committee in the past two years has had a problem just organizing themselves, so they couldn't investigate any complaints."

Sodrel said he didn't think Hastert should resign, but his campaign was in negotiations to have the speaker stump for him next week, and those negotiations have now fallen through.

Baron Hill, the Democratic challenger in the closely watched 9th District race, issued a press release Monday calling on Sodrel to return campaign money he received from the National Republican Congressional Committee, a group which itself received funding from Foley.

"Here in Indiana, we judge people by what they do," Hill said in a statement. "Mike Sodrel cannot simply say that he denounces the actions of former Congressman Mark Foley. He must return the immoral money that he has received from Foley via the NRCC and those in Congress who worked to cover up a sexual predator."

Sodrel has declined to return the money.

"My opponent would be happy if every Republican in the House of Representatives resigned and they sent all their contributions back, but it's not going to happen," he said.

This is the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off for the 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when Sodrel defeated him by fewer than 1,500 votes.

Libertarian Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.

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