FOLEY GATE

Oct. 13 — Representative John Shimkus, who has been chairman of the Congressional page program since 2001, said Friday that he was unaware of previous complaints about Mark Foley.

Mr. Shimkus, Republican of Illinois, said that had he known of the complaints about Mr. Foley, he would have handled concerns about Mr. Foley’s e-mail messages to a page from Louisiana differently.

“There is stuff that everybody would have done differently,” Mr. Shimkus said after testifying under oath for more than three hours before the House ethics committee. “Having 20/20 hindsight, a lot of things would have been different.”

Mr. Shimkus said that he learned of concerns about Mr. Foley last fall and that he and the clerk of the House confronted Mr. Foley at a meeting in Mr. Foley’s office.

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