Former pages are raising their voices against a decision by top House leaders to end the program that for decades has put teenagers to work as temporary congressional aides.
?We strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and find creative, new ways to utilize the service of these young men and women who represent the best and the brightest from congressional districts across the nation,? pages from the class of 1984-1985 wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Aug. 15.
Continue ReadingThe letter, signed by 26 former pages, is the latest in a series of formal and informal efforts to reverse the decision, which was announced in a joint Boehner-Pelosi release earlier this month.
?The U.S. House of Representatives should continue to have a platform to mold and shape the lives of the students selected to be pages each year,? the pages wrote. ?In April 2010, our page class celebrated its 25th anniversary in Washington. Over a third of our class brought their families to see the House floor, to meet current pages, and to dream of following in their parents? footsteps in this esteemed tradition. ? [I]t is this strong base of knowledge and civic engagement that pages eventually leverage into successful lives and careers.?
Pelosi and Boehner framed the elimination of the page program in terms of its financial value ? about $5 million in taxpayer funds ? and the reality of modern communication rendering many of the pages? tasks obsolete.
The program has also attracted negative attention over the years because of a series of sex scandals involving pages and former pages. In the 1980s, two House members, Dan Crane and Gerry Studds, were disciplined by the House for inappropriate relations with pages. In 2006, then-Rep. Mark Foley was forced to resign amid allegations that he sent sexually explicit text messages to a former page. And, the program suffered further when pages? sexual interaction with each other was revealed shortly thereafter.
But former pages have rallied to the program?s cause in a series of statements, op-eds and now the letter to Pelosi and Boehner.
?The page program represents the best values that inspire all of us, and that is a bargain for the cost needed to operate this program on an annual basis,? they wrote. ?We hope you reconsider ending this two-century old program and instead dedicate the fine minds in your employ to devise a more meaningful way to engage these young people in the 21st century. As former pages, we pledge to work with you to revamp the program.?
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