[JURIST] The US House Ethics Committee [official website] Thursday opened its investigation into allegations of misconduct related to the House Page program [backgrounder, PDF], issuing nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents, according to statements [1, 2, text] issued by the Committee leadership. A special bipartisan subcommittee, set up under HR 1065 [text of resolution], is being led by Doc Hastings (R-WA) [official website], and Ranking Minority Member Howard Berman, (D-CA) [official website], and also contains two other members, one from each party.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL [official website], who has come under fire [BBC report] after allegations that he had prior knowledge of the sexually explicit e-mails sent from ex-congressman Mark Foley [JURIST news archive] to teenage males in the House Page program, says he will not resign and is willing to testify to the committee if subpoenaed. Foley, who stepped down [Reuters report] after being confronted with transcripts of the messages he sent to the pages, has since begun treatment for alcohol abuse, and has admitted that he is gay, but has denied any sexual contact with minors. AP has more.