WASHINGTON - A third figure in the page scandal threatening to the envelop House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested Wednesday the speaker knew of an inappropriate e-mail that Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) sent to a Louisiana boy before the matter became public.

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Rep. Rodney Alexander (news, bio, voting record), R-La., the congressman who sponsored the page at the heart of the furor, said Hastert "knew about the e-mails that we knew about," including one in which Foley asked the page to send his picture.

The speaker has said he was not aware of the e-mails when they were discussed with his staff. The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio, and House GOP campaign chairman Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, said they had spoken with Hastert about a complaint concerning a former page from Louisiana last spring, after Alexander told them about it.

Hastert's position did not change after Alexander's comments. "The speaker's staff knew about this; the speaker didn't," said his spokesman, Ron Bonjean.

Alexander asserted on Fox News that Hastert's knowledge was limited to e-mails that made the page uncomfortable — not the salacious instant messages Foley is reported to have made to pages. "Speaker Hastert is a good man," he said. "He is a good leader. And I think he would personally break the neck of anybody he thought was trying to sexually abuse a young man or woman."

The chairmen of two coalitions of social and fiscal conservatives in Congress rallied behind Hastert as some other conservatives demanded he step down. "Speaker Hastert is a man of integrity," Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., and Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., said in a joint statement. "Speaker Dennis Hastert should not resign."