Outing Edmund

Send in the lawyers...

The Oklahoman reports that Jordan Edmund has hired an attorney.

A former U.S. House page working on the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Rep. Ernest Istook may be a part of the scandal involving former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, The Oklahoman has learned.

The former page, a Californian named Jordan Edmund, 21, on Wednesday hired Enid attorney Stephen Jones to represent him, the attorney confirmed.

Jones would not say exactly why he was hired, but did say, “I understand the FBI and the House Ethics committee have an interest in the matter ... the allegations concerning Congressman Foley which have surfaced.”

...[Chip Englander, Istook’s campaign manager,] gave The Oklahoman a statement that was attributed to Istook.

The statement says: “The sad and sick behavior of Mark Foley was a total surprise to me when it was revealed. Law enforcement is doing its job, and I support that effort. Now we should all support and protect the victims, and they should not be hounded by the press.

“It was a complete surprise to learn this morning that one victim may be someone I know. Each one of the victims deserves their privacy. To every reporter I request, please have the decency to avoid making things worse for the victims, and just leave them alone. This happened years ago when the victims were minors.”

A couple of things to remember--

At least one victim was not a minor at the time he engaged in an IM chat with Foley. ABC misled the public in that regard.

In terms of that victim's privacy, ABC blew it.

ABC outed Edmund. ABC identified the victim. It seems that it wasn't done maliciously, but responsibility lies with ABC.

...Edmund’s name surfaced on Internet blogs that linked him to the instant message address used in communications with Foley.

One blogger got the instant message address from the Web site of ABC News, which has obtained the instant messages sent between Foley and a former page.

ABC is responsible for displaying information that led to Edmund's outing.

The news outlet did not protect his identity.

...Asked why Edmund needed an attorney, Jones said, “You read the blogs. You know why he needs an attorney.”

Jones, who represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in his murder trial in Denver, confirmed Edmund was a U.S. House page.

“I’ve been retained in the last several hours,” Jones said. “I’m still reviewing matters.”

Jones said the two met Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

Don't blame the bloggers.

Blame ABC. Edmund needs an attorney because ABC gave out information that revealed his identity.

That would have been impossible if ABC had not displayed Edmund's screen name.

ABC definitely has something to worry about.

Brian Ross is mute on the subject.

The truth is the Dems and their mouthpieces in the lib media used the victims as pawns, means to an end.

Clearly, this wasn't about concern for the children.

Edmund had an Internet page on the popular MySpace Web site.

On that Web page, he identified himself as being 21 years old and said he had been attending college at the University of California, Berkeley. He also identified himself as a House page from September 2001 to June 2002. He would have been 16 and 17 then. He said he was going to Oklahoma to be deputy campaign manager for Istook’s gubernatorial effort, according to the Web site.

Edmund registered to vote in Oklahoma in March, records show.

I am always amazed by how much personal information people freely give up on the Internet.

When the Foley scandal broke, why didn't Edmund remove his MySpace site?

Why would he leave all that information up?

What was he thinking?

I don't understand why he would put so much personally identifying facts about himself on his site in the first place; but to leave it out there after the scandal exploded was extremely risky.

Edmund didn't take steps to protect himself.

I suppose he had been assured by someone that he was safe and would remain completely anonymous.

Did ABC guarantee his anonymity?

Did Dem party operatives or allies make that promise?

The fact is Edmund could not have been so readily identified as a result of ABC's mistake if he hadn't posted what he did.

...[Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, a member of the House Ethics committee said,] “First and foremost, I’m worried about the safety of the kids and the obligation we owe them and their parents.”

So much of this is political posturing.

EVERYONE is so concerned about the safety of the kids.

Yeah, sure.

I think, first and foremost, the players in this scandal are concerned about the 2006 elections and their personal political futures.