"House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once," the newspaper said in an editorial in which it joined conservative leaders in calling for leadership resignations over the handling of matter.

The scandal, centering on sexually explicit Internet messages sent by former Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida to teenage male congressional pages, came to light just weeks before a close November 7 election to decide control of the U.S. Congress.

The Washington Times said the House leader was either grossly negligent for overlooking early "red flag" warnings "or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away."

Foley, a six-term House veteran, resigned last week. The FBI, Florida state investigators and House ethics investigators are all looking into his communications with pages, who are teenagers assigned to answer telephones, deliver documents and run other errands for members of Congress.