Scott B. Palmer (born November 22, 1950) is a former United States congressional aide. He was thechief of staff toUnited States RepresentativeDennis Hastert (R-Illinois), the formerSpeaker of the House in theU.S. House of Representatives.
Palmer attendedAurora University inAurora, Illinois,[1] from which he received a B.A. degree in history in 1972 and a Master's degree in management in 1983. From 1972 until 1984, he worked for Aurora University.[2]
Palmer was Hastert's Chief of Staff from Hastert's initial election to the U.S. House in 1986 until the former Speaker's retirement in 2007. He also worked on Hastert's campaign staff since Hastert's first run for theIllinois House of Representatives in 1980.[3] He, Hastert and Hastert's Chief of Staff, Mike Stokke, shared a town house in Washington, D.C.[4]
On October 4, 2006, in the midst of theMark Foley scandal, Palmer publicly denied the assertion byKirk Fordham, the onetime Chief of Staff for former U.S. RepresentativeMark Foley, that Fordham had told Palmer about Foley's inappropriate contacts with male pages in 2003 or earlier and had asked Palmer to intervene.[5] Palmer released a statement that day that read, in full: "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen."[6]
Palmer testified under oath in front of theHouse Ethics Committee on October 23, 2006, regarding his knowledge of the Mark Foley scandal.[7]