Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth says Dennis Hastert should resign as speaker of the US House of Representatives.

She says failure to act on reports of inappropriate electronic messages from former Florida Congressman Mark Foley to House pages is the reason Hastert should step down.

Some House Republicans say they told Hastert about Foley's messages several years ago. The House ethics committee is trying to determine what Hastert knew and when he knew it. Herseth says Hastert did not take sufficient action.

She says she didn't know Foley well and had not been aware of his alleged inappropriate messages to underage pages. The Democrat does say Foley's behavior violates the trust pages and their families place in the House and its members.

Herseth says she's not calling for Hastert to resign his House seat but that he should not continue serving as speaker.