Mark Foley scandal
Encyclopedia
The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting
e-mail
s and sexually suggestive instant message
s sent by Mark Foley
, a Republican
Congressman
from Florida
, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional page
s. Investigation was closed by the FDLE on September 19, 2008 citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges as both "Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey. The scandal grew to encompass the response of Republican congressional leaders to previous complaints about Foley's contacts with the pages and inconsistencies in the leaders' public statements. There were also allegations that a second Republican Congressman, Jim Kolbe
, had improper conduct with at least two youths, a 16-year old page and a recently graduated page.
The scandal led to Foley's resignation from Congress on September 29, 2006. In some quarters, the scandal is believed to have contributed to the Republican Party's loss of control over Congress in the November 7, 2006 election
, as well as the end of House Speaker
Dennis Hastert
's leadership of the House Republicans. Kirk Fordham
, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds
and former chief of staff for Foley, also resigned as a result of the scandal.
Newsweek
's June 7, 2010 issue's BACK STORY listed Foley, among others, as prominent conservative politician who had a record of anti-gay legislation and was later caught in a gay sex scandal.
The questionable conversations, which took place between 1995 and 2005, were investigated by the FBI
for possible criminal violations. In September 2008, Florida officials investigating Foley decided not to charge him, citing a lack of evidence and the expiration of the statute of limitations
. The House Ethics Committee investigated the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to earlier warnings about Foley's conduct. In early October 2006, two news organizations anonymously quoted former pages who said that they had sexual liaisons with Foley after turning 18 and 21. Foley was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which introduced legislation targeting sexual predator
s and created stricter guidelines for tracking them.
, Louisiana who had been sponsored by Rep. Rodney Alexander
(R
-LA). They were the first messages to be made public in the scandal. Among other things, Foley asked for a photo of the page, his age and birthday, and what he wanted for a birthday present. Foley observed that another male page (to whom he had also written) was "in really great shape... i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey..." The page forwarded the e-mails to a colleague in Alexander's office, saying "this really freaked me out," and repeating the word "sick" 13 times in a row to describe the photo request. The page asked "if you can, please tell Rodney [Alexander] about this," and in addition, mentioned a female page who had been warned about a Congressman who "hit on" interns.
ABC News reported on October 5 that in 2002, Foley e-mailed one page with an invitation to stay at the congressman's home in exchange for oral sex
. The page, who was 17 years old at the time, declined the offer. The same report stated that he e-mailed another with a request for a photograph of his erect penis. Another former page reported that he saw sexually explicit e-mails sent to one page from his page class of 2001-2002, and learned of "three or four" pages from that class who received similar e-mails.
(IM) conversations from 2003 that Foley had with two pages who were under the age of 18 at the time. The Washington Post reported that it had received its copies of the same IMs from a page who had served on Capitol Hill with the two pages to whom they had been addressed.
Another former page, Tyson Vivyan, said that he had received "sexually suggestive" messages from Foley in 1997, a month after he left the page program. A page from the class of 1998 also reported receiving explicit IMs from Foley. A page from the class of 2000 reported that he chatted with Foley during the Congressman's 2000 visit to the page dormitory, and that afterwards, he began receiving e-mails and IMs from Foley, which became explicit immediately after his 18th birthday.
Two Florida newspapers, the St. Petersburg Times
and the Miami Herald, and the Fox News Channel acquired copies of these e-mails in November 2005, but decided not to publish a story. According to an editor at the St. Petersburg Times, they received the e-mails from a source in Alexander's office.
The St. Petersburg Times editors decided the exchange was probably just "friendly chit-chat". Nonetheless, they assigned two reporters to investigate in November 2005. The recipient of the e-mail refused to cooperate with the reporters, and no other pages they interviewed had complaints about correspondence with Foley. The Times revisited their investigation "more than once", ultimately choosing not to break the story.
Ken Silverstein
, an editor at Harper's Magazine
, said that he received copies of the five e-mails in May 2006 from a "Democratic operative". Silverstein subsequently wrote a story on the e-mails, which was cancelled due to a lack of absolute proof that Foley was anything more than "creepy". He said that his source "was not working in concert with the national Democratic Party" but was "genuinely disgusted" by Foley's behavior. Silverstein himself passed the information to other media organizations after cancelling the story.
In July 2006, a paid Republican Congressional staffer sent copies of the e-mails to several Washington
media organizations through an intermediary. The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
(CREW) said it received copies of the e-mails on July 21 and turned them over to the FBI that same day.
In August 2006, ABC News reporter Brian Ross
received the initial e-mails from a Republican source but did not write a story for over a month because he was working on other stories.
On September 24, 2006, the e-mails were released by Lane Hudson
on his anonymous blog Stop Sex Predators. Hudson was at the time employed by the Human Rights Campaign
. When the HRC found out about Hudson's activity during the week of October 25, 2006, it publicly fired him for misusing its resources. At the time of his firing, the Board of Directors of HRC included Jeff Trandahl
, who also had prior knowledge and involvement with the issue.
The political humor blog Wonkette
drew readers' attention to the posted e-mails on September 27. The next day, September 28, Ross reported on the e-mails which he had received in August.
After that initial story, two sources brought copies of more explicit instant messages to ABC News and The Washington Post. Both were former pages — the first was a Republican who would "never vote for a Democrat", and the second was a Democrat from the same class as the two pages who received the messages.
In the second visit, Newsweek
reported that Foley showed up at the dormitory after the 10 P.M. curfew, apparently drunk, and attempted to enter the building. He was reportedly turned away by a security guard.
Other meetings include a dinner with one former page, then 17, after which he invited the youth back to his hotel room and "touched his leg", and a visit by two pages in 1997 to Foley's Washington condo where they consumed pizza and soda. Another page reported that Foley repeatedly invited him out for ice cream.
In communications with one of the pages, who chose to remain anonymous, Foley appeared to emphasize that while he assessed the attractions and orientation
of pages, he waited until they had left the program to engage the youth in erotic activities: "I always knew you were a player but I don't fool around with pages."
The Los Angeles Times
contacted the anonymous former page, according to a report in the paper on October 8, "after others identified him as someone whose contacts with Foley went beyond graphic messages." The page said that after leaving the page program, he began receiving instant messages from Maf54, Mark Foley's chat username, that quickly became provocative in nature. According to the Times:
The ex-page said that in the fall of 2000, when he was 21 years old, he engaged in sexual intercourse
with Foley at the congressman's Washington residence. According to the former page's account, "[t]he two had wine
and pizza
on a backyard patio
and then retired to a spare bedroom."
Another former page told ABC News that Foley arranged a sexual liaison with him but only after he turned 18.
Shortly after being questioned by ABC about the more explicit IMs—and before they had been publicly revealed—Foley resigned from Congress. The congressman issued a statement, saying, "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."
Kirk Fordham
, Chief of Staff to Representative and National Republican Congressional Committee
Chairman Tom Reynolds
of New York
, and former Chief of Staff to Foley, said that he was with Foley when ABC confronted him with the explicit IMs. Fordham said that he asked Foley if they were authentic, and that Foley replied, "Probably." According to Newsweek, Foley "knew he was finished." Fordham then visited GOP headquarters to inform Hastert and Reynolds; he returned with a one-sentence resignation letter that Foley signed. A short time later, Foley submitted his resignation to Governor Jeb Bush
and left the capital.
Once the scandal broke in full, Foley had virtually no chance of staying in Congress. Hastert and Reynolds let it be known that if Foley did not sign the resignation letter, they would have sought his expulsion from the House. Polls showed him losing badly to his Democratic challenger, businessman Tim Mahoney
.
On October 2, Foley checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic
for alcoholism. On October 3 Foley’s lawyer stated, "Mark Foley has never, ever had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life. He is absolutely, positively not a pedophile
." He also stated that Foley himself was a victim of sexual assault by an unnamed clergyman as a child, that the inappropriate conversations were the result of a secret alcohol problem
and primarily occurred while Foley was intoxicated, and that Foley is gay
. Previously, when confronted with speculations that he was gay, Foley labeled them "revolting and unforgivable". However, Foley's homosexuality had been an open secret
in Washington for many years.
, came through the investigative reporting of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
.
Parallel to Foley's disclosure, Mercieca held several interviews in which he described a two-year relationship with Foley from when the youth was a thirteen-year-old altar boy at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Lake Worth
, Florida until he was fifteen. He told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about a number of intimate occasions that the priest claimed "Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate", such as "massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake in Lake Worth and being naked in the same room on overnight trips." Mercieca hinted at an even more intimate event, which he claimed took place while he was under the influence of tranquilizers and alcohol, and which he could not clearly recollect, and that he taught Foley "some wrong things" related to sex, which he did not specify.
In a separate AP interview, he recounted that: "We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers. It was not what you call intercourse...There was no rape or anything...Maybe light touches here or there." And he told a Florida TV station that it was not abuse, which is against someone's will: "He seemed to like it, you know? So it was sort of more like a spontaneous thing." The Archdiocese of Miami issued a statement apologizing to Foley for "the hurt he experienced" from the priest's "morally reprehensible" actions, and suspended Mercieca's faculties.
According to Mercieca, he last saw Foley at a dinner meeting 18 years ago in a restaurant in Fort Worth. When asked whether he had anything to say to Foley, Mercieca said, "Remember the good times we had together, you know, and how well we enjoyed each other’s company." He added, "Don’t keep dwelling on this thing, you know?" Mercieca could be prosecuted for his activities with Foley because the relevant statutes of limitations had expired, and the Palm Beach County state attorney's office "cannot conduct an investigation because Foley has declined to press charges."
A childhood friend of Foley's, Jon Ombres, confirmed the close friendship between the two, and suggested that there may have been a second priest, sexually interested in youths and with whom Foley was on good terms, active in the parish at that time.
As of October 25, Mercieca faced new accusations, leveled by a former altar boy who claims having been abused by him in the seventies at the age of twelve. Mercieca, speaking through his lawyer, denied the second accusation, claiming that it is "at best as a figment of the imagination and at worst a malicious fabrication." On July 18, 2007, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
settled a lawsuit brought against it by the former altar boy. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The lawsuit had sought more than $10,000,000 in damages.
. The first to be made public involves a 1996 rafting trip Kolbe took on the Colorado River
with two recently graduated, 17-year-old male pages, as well as Kolbe's sister, five of his staffers, and Gary Cummins, the deputy superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park
at the time. An anonymous participant told NBC that he was "creeped out" by the attention Kolbe paid to one of the pages, adding that Kolbe did a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back. The page in question declined to address that statement, telling NBC, "I just don't want to get into this... because I might possibly be considered for a job in the administration." He did say that he had a "blast" on the trip and did not report anything improper to his parents or page officials afterwards.
On the day that the Justice Department investigation of the first allegation was made public, October 12, 2006, Kolbe's spokeswoman Korenna Cline said that his office had not been contacted by the Justice Department or House Ethics Committee. She then resigned abruptly, saying "I have decided to pursue another job opportunity and today is my last day."
In the second allegation, a page told the FBI and House Clerk's
office that he was "uncomfortable with a particular social encounter" including physical contact that occurred in 2001 when he and Kolbe were alone. The page was 16 at the time and had not reported the incident.
These allegations were also been the topic of a conference call between the members of the House Page Review Board, which referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee since it did not have jurisdiction over Congressmen.
Trandahl, speaking as the former House Clerk, reportedly stated that Kolbe was one of a small group of "problem members" of congress who frequently socialized with House pages in inappropriate ways.
(R-IL) sent the House Page Board and House Ethics Committee a report that a page he sponsored was "inappropriately invited to a social function by another congressman." He declined to make any further details public.
, John Shimkus
, Ken Mehlman
, and Sue W. Kelly
.
Also significant in the scandal is the office of Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer
of the United States House of Representatives. The Clerk is responsible for the effective administration of all personnel matters, including those relating to the house pages. The two Clerks of the House during the scandal were Jeff Trandahl
and Karen Haas; the latter was elevated to the position from being floor assistant for Hastert after Trandahl resigned on November 18, 2005.
(Ohio); Reynolds
; Alexander
and John Shimkus
(Ill.) (Chairman of the House Page Board); Hastert
, Mike Stokke, Ted Van Der Meid
, and Tim Kennedy
in Hastert's office; Paula Nowakowski, Boehner’s chief of staff; Trandahl; Alexander’s chief of staff (Royal Alexander, no relation) and another Alexander staffer, Danielle Savoy, Fordham; Kolbe, and Kolbe's staffer.
While at first no Democratic Congressman or staffers were shown to have had such knowledge, later investigation suggested that the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee were also aware of the initial emails
Several current and former congressional employees recalled Foley approaching young male pages at parties, going back many years, and say that warnings about him were commonly passed around. Generally speaking, he was "known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made some [pages] uncomfortable." According to Mark Beck-Heyman, who served as a Republican page in summer 1995, "Almost the first day I got there I was warned. It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages." He alleged that many people on Capitol Hill, including Republican staffers, "have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing." Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said on MSNBC that "I‘ve had people now on staff that used to be pages, and it was widely known to watch out for him, that he liked boys ... so pages were warned to watch out for him."
reported that in 2000, a former page showed Kolbe
messages from Foley that made the page feel uncomfortable. According to The Washington Post, these messages were sexually explicit, a characterization that Kolbe's press secretary denied. The Washington Post reported that Kolbe confronted Foley about the messages. Kolbe's press secretary said that unspecified "corrective action" was taken. Kolbe later said that the former page, whom Kolbe had sponsored, told him of a "creepy" e-mail from Foley, but did not show it to him. Kolbe said that, through his staff, he passed the complaint on to Trandahl and to Foley's office. Kolbe said that he did not confront Foley about the matter, and that he recalled that the incident had taken place later than 2000.
Another page, Matthew Loraditch, stated that when he served in 2001 pages had been warned to "watch out for Congressman Mark Foley,"
though he later softened his description of the warning.
Newsweek
reported that in 2002 or 2003, Foley showed up at the pages' dormitory after the 10 P.M. curfew, apparently drunk, and attempted to enter the building. He was reportedly turned away by a security guard. Newsweek stated that Trandahl notified Fordham (then Foley's Chief of Staff and later Congressman Tom Reynolds' chief of staff), and that Fordham in turn contacted Scott B. Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, describing Foley's behavior generally but not mentioning the incident at the pages' dormitory. This account further stated that Fordham followed up a couple of days later with Palmer, who replied that he had "informed the Speaker" and "dealt with it" by talking to Foley directly.
Testifying under oath before a House ethics committee panel, Fordham said that months before he left Foley's office in January 2004, he had told Hastert's office about the conduct by Mark Foley with male teenage pages. Palmer has categorically denied that meeting between him and Fordham ever took place: "What Kirk Fordham says happened did not happen." However, on October 6 a second congressional staffer corroborated Fordham's version of the events, claiming that in 2003 a meeting took place between Palmer and Foley, specifically to discuss complaints about his behavior towards pages.
Trandahl, testifying to a closed session of the House Ethics Committee, reportedly also confirmed that Hastert's office was notified of Mr. Foley's behavior in 2003. He stated that he regularly updated Hastert's counsel and floor manager, Ted Van Der Meid, about a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages outside of official duties." One member of the group was Foley.
(R-LA
) stated that he learned of the five initial e-mails from Foley to the 16-year old page from Louisiana in the fall of 2005, after a news reporter brought the matter to his attention. Alexander spoke to the boy's parents, who did not wish to pursue the matter beyond stopping the e-mails. Alexander's chief of staff met with Mike Stokke, Hastert's deputy chief of staff in the fall of 2005. They met with Trandahl. Contradictory statements have made it unclear whether they actually read the e-mails. Trandahl then met with Shimkus
, and Shimkus and Trandahl met privately with Foley, and Shimkus told him to cease contact with the page. The other two congressional representatives on the House Page committee (including the only Democrat) were not informed, and no formal investigative or disciplinary action was taken.
After testifying in closed session before the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Alexander also announced that “There are many people who know what we know, and have known it for a lot longer period of time than we’ve known.” He did not name names publicly, however.
In the spring of 2006, Rep. Alexander mentioned the case to Boehner, who referred him to Rep. Reynolds (R-NY
), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
. Both Reynolds and Boehner say that they notified Hastert; he says he can't recall that and questions whether it is true.
When the story became public, Hastert said that he had learned of the e-mails only when the news broke in late September, 2006.
Reynolds said on September 30 that he had spoken with Hastert about the matter early in 2006 after being approached by Alexander to discuss the matter. According to The Washington Post, "Republican insiders said Reynolds spoke out because he was angry that Hastert appeared willing to let him take the blame for the party leadership's silence." Hastert's office said that Hastert did not "explicitly recall" that conversation but said he did not dispute it.
Boehner
told The Washington Post that he had learned of the emails in the spring. Boehner initially said that he informed Hastert, and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it." After Hastert denied knowledge to the press, Boehner retracted his statement, stating that he could not recall the conversation. Boehner later stated that he was "99 percent" sure he had informed Hastert.
, supervises the House page program. The staffers, who are automatic members, are the House Clerk
and the House Sergeant At Arms.
Although Shimkus was aware of the five initially reported e-mails in 2005, he did not inform the rest of the board aside from Trandahl. Shimkus said he "was asked to keep this in confidence" because the parents of the page didn't want the incident publicized. The other two representatives on the board, Dale Kildee (D
-MI
) and Shelley Moore Capito
(R-WV
) did not find out about them until the scandal broke in October 2006. Kildee said that he was "very upset" that he had not been informed of the e-mails. He said, "I should have been told. The whole House Page Board should have been told." Capito said that she would have recommended stronger action had she been made aware of the original e-mails.
There are separate supervisors for the Republican and Democratic pages. Peggy Sampson has supervised Republican pages since 1986, and several former pages say that she warned them about Mark Foley. Wren Ivester is the supervisor of Democratic pages. No Democratic pages have said they were warned about Foley, and several contacted by ABC News said they had not been told about him. Both supervisors testified before a closed session of the House Ethics Committee on October 11, 2006.
On October 16, 2006, the Board held a conference call to discuss allegations in the Kolbe incident in 1996 (discussed above).
Hastert's office concedes, in its own chronology, that his top staffers Mike Stokke (deputy chief of staff), Ted Van Der Meid (legal counsel) and a lower placed assistant named Tim Kennedy were told about the Foley emails by Rep. Alexander's chief of staff in November 2005. They deny that Scott Palmer knew about the emails until they were made public, though. Hastert is unusually close to his top staffers; he lives with Palmer and Stokke, who have worked for him for decades, and they commute back to Illinois together on weekends.
Fordham, who had been Foley's chief of staff until January 2004, and chief of staff to Congressman Reynolds from 2005 until he resigned on October 4, 2006, said that he told Scott Palmer about Foley's interest in pages in 2003, that Palmer met with Foley, and that Hastert knew about the meeting. Palmer replied that "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen", but on October 6 a second congressional staffer corroborated Fordham's account, claiming that a 2003 meeting took place between Palmer and Foley specifically to discuss complaints about his behavior towards pages.
At an October 2 press conference, Hastert called the IMs "vile and repulsive." He also said that had Foley not resigned, he would have demanded his expulsion from the House. He also condemned Foley for misleading him, Shimkus and the organizations with whom he'd worked to strengthen laws against exploiting children. Hastert requested a criminal investigation of the explicit IMs, but not of the earlier, less explicit e-mails exchanged between Foley and the page sponsored by Alexander.
However, the following day, on the Rush Limbaugh Show he altered his account of Foley's departure from the House, now taking credit for having "asked him to resign." The new version was repeated uncritically by a number of media sources, which did not challenge the contradiction.
On October 3, the Washington Times called for Hastert's resignation as Speaker over his handling of the scandal. Prominent conservatives also have called for Hastert's resignation, such as David Bossie
, president of Citizens United
; conservative columnist Richard Viguerie
; and conservative columnist Michael Reagan
, son of former President Ronald Reagan
. Hastert has rebuffed these calls to resign, arguing he did nothing wrong and is committed to investigating the scandal and leading Congress. Boehner also defended Hastert in a letter to the editor of Washington Times. A conference call on October 2 with about 100 House Republicans had no calls for a resignation.
On October 5, Hastert accepted responsibility for the scandal but refused to step down. He said, "I haven't done anything wrong" and re-affirmed that he had only recently learned about any problems involving Foley and the pages: "I learned of this last Friday... I don't know who knew what or when--that's why we've asked for an investigation."
Reynolds commented on his role in the events, "I don't think I went wrong at all...I don't know what else I could have done."
The question of Reynolds's role in the scandal nearly cost him his seat in the November 2006 election. According to conservative columnist Robert Novak
, Reynolds convinced a reluctant Foley to run for re-election even after finding out about his questionable e-mails. Reynolds also contributed $5,000 to Foley's re-election fund, apparently after finding out about his behavior. Indeed, Reynolds won reelection by only four percentage points despite representing a district that had been altered specifically to protect him.
On October 4, 2006, Fordham, Reynolds's Chief of Staff, resigned after newspapers reported that he had asked ABC News
not to report the text of the sexually explicit instant messages. ABC reported that Fordham had offered to give them an exclusive on the resignation if they withheld the text of the IMs. Fordham had previously served as Foley's Chief of Staff. Fordham told The Associated Press that he had warned Hastert's staff about Foley in 2003. Hastert's spokesman replied, "What Kirk Fordham said never happened."
It has been reported that prior to the public scandal, Reynolds, together with Karl Rove
, urged Foley to run for reelection in 2006, despite Foley's reluctance.
and requested a photograph." Shimkus advised Foley not to contact the boy again, and Foley assured him he would not. Shimkus did not share the information with Reps. Kildee or Capito, the other members of the Page Board.
Shimkus later described Foley as a "slimeball," and regretted not pressing further. Unlike Reynolds, he had little difficulty winning reelection.
Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) offered a resolution to direct the House Ethics Committee
to create a subcommittee to investigate Foley and the Republican leadership. Boehner moved to immediately refer Pelosi's resolution to the Ethics Committee without further debate and the House unanimously agreed.
On October 5, 2006, the House Ethics Committee met and established a subcommittee to investigate the page sex scandal. The House subcommittee members are Reps. Doc Hastings
(R-WA), Howard Berman
(D-CA), Judy Biggert
(R-IL), and Stephanie Tubbs Jones
(D-OH). The subcommittee has already sent subpoenas and has appointed Louis Freeh
as a special advisor. The committee opened an expansive investigation into the unfolding scandal on 5 October 2006 by approving nearly four dozen subpoena
s for witnesses and documents.
The Ethics Committee has no power over Foley, who is no longer a member of Congress. As a result, its chairman has said it will focus on the "conduct of House members, officers and staff related to information concerning improper conduct involving members and current and former pages".
On December 8, 2006, the committee reported the investigation's conclusion, finding Hastert and other Republican leaders negligent, but not in violation of any House rules. The panel did not recommend any sanctions for their failure to stop Foley. The investigation validated Trandahl's and Fordham's reports and concluded that Hastert's chief of staff first learned of Foley's conduct in 2002 or 2003, and that Hastert's chief counsel had been aware of concerns for nearly a decade.
On October 1, 2006 in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
, Hastert requested an investigation into Foley's actions, specifically into the explicit IMs that had recently surfaced. Hastert's letter also requested investigation of persons who knew or had possession of these messages but did not report them to the appropriate authorities. That day, the FBI stated that it was assessing whether any federal laws had been violated.
The Justice Department sent a letter on October 4 to the counsel for the House of Representatives, ordering the body to "preserve all records" that might relate to the scandal. An order such as this is usually soon followed with search warrant
s and subpoena
s.
On July 21, 2006, the director of the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
(CREW) received copies of the e-mails from one of her staff members, who had received it two days earlier. On that day, CREW turned over the e-mails to the FBI; however, the FBI found insufficient grounds to open a criminal investigation. After the scandal broke, CREW criticized the FBI's lack of action. An anonymous source in the FBI told the Washington Post that CREW was their original source for the e-mails but had provided only heavily redacted copies, even after a request for complete copies, and would not identify their source. The FBI source also alleged that CREW had held the emails since April before turning them over. However, the department spokesman would not comment on the record. CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, replied that they had provided unedited e-mails to the FBI, and that her original e-mails to the FBI proved that. She formally requested that the Justice Department's Inspector General investigate the FBI's assertions.
The resulting Inspector General's report concluded that 1) CREW had received the emails in July and turned them over to the FBI within two days; 2) the FBI's decision not to pursue charges against Foley based on the initial emails did not constitute misconduct; but 3) the FBI probably should have referred the case to the House Page Board or other authorities based on what they received.
(D-CA) criticized Republican leaders, who, she said, "have known of the egregious behavior of Congressman Mark Foley, yet were prepared to adjourn [Congress] tonight without an Ethics Committee investigation." DCCC
Chairman Rahm Emanuel
noted that Alexander had first gone to Reynolds, who was in charge of political operations, and said, "That's to protect a member [of Congress], not to protect a child." When Foley's sexually explicit instant messages became public, a few members of the Republican Party condemned his actions. They voted unanimously with House Democrats to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee for investigation. Speaker of the House
Dennis Hastert
also demanded a criminal investigation by writing the Attorney General asking for a full investigation both into Foley's actions and into the possibility that earlier clues were not properly acted upon by Congressional officials, representatives, the media, and the FBI.
Some members of the gay community voiced concerns over media coverage of the Mark Foley scandal, since the scandal linked homosexuality and pederasty
, while others condemn the media's complicity in permitting Foley to remain closeted. Many Republican candidates have announced that they are either returning contributions from Foley's campaign or contributing any Foley money received in the last several years to charity. The NRCC, however, has opted to keep a $100,000 contribution made to it by Foley in July 2006, after the first, "overly friendly" e-mails had become known to House Republican leaders. Carl Forti, an NRCC spokesman, has said the campaign organization would gladly accept the $2.7 million campaign war chest that Foley controlled upon his resignation, should Foley choose to turn it over. On October 5, 2006, the parents of the former page from Louisiana, who initially complained about the e-mails to Rep. Alexander, issued a public statement. They described their son's actions as courageous, and described him as a hero for reporting the emails. They supported Alexander, calling his conduct "beyond reproach". They complained about media harassment, and asked to be left alone, requesting respect for their privacy.
poll reported that two-thirds of those aware of the scandal believe that the Republican leadership in Congress attempted a cover-up. According to Fox News, an internal Republican poll conducted in the wake of the scandal shows potentially disastrous election results for Congressional Republicans if Hastert remains as Speaker of the House. The unnamed Republican source is quoted as saying "The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker, and the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss." For Democrats to regain control of the House, they had to post a net gain of 15 seats in the 2006 midterm elections
.
The National Review
, a conservative magazine, called the scandal helpful for Democrats campaigning to regain control of one or both houses of Congress, and said it could have a greater impact than the Jack Abramoff scandals
since "a GOP pederasty
scandal" is thought to resonate more strongly with the public than one involving the purchase of favors.
On October 3, the Washington Times called for Hastert's resignation as Speaker over his handling of the scandal. Other prominent conservatives have called for Hastert's resignation, such as David Bossie
, president of Citizens United
; conservative columnist Richard Viguerie
; and conservative columnist Michael Reagan
, a son of former President Ronald Reagan
.
A Pew Research Center poll released on October 5 indicated no significant change in registered voters' party support; before and after the scandal broke, Democrats had 51 percent support in the upcoming congressional elections, while Republicans had 38 percent support. In later polls, however, Republicans hemorrhaged support; a USA Today
/Gallup
survey published October 10 showed Democrats enjoying a 23-point advantage over Republicans, with an 11-point gain for Democrats, and a 12-point loss for Republicans, since a poll released on September 17.
A October 5, 2006 public opinion poll found that 27% of American thought Hastert should remain Speaker, with 43% thinking he should resign from Congress entirely.
On October 6, political scientist and analyst Stuart Rothenberg
wrote that the scandal may have helped to "set the stage for a blowout of cosmic proportions next month" in the November elections. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato
, on October 5, wrote in the Crystal Ball
that "the congressional page scandal [had] joined leaked reports of poor progress in Iraq and Bob Woodward
's portrayal of the President Bush as a clueless war wager
to deliver Bush and Republicans their worst, most catastrophic week of 2006."
was picked to fill Foley's spot in the November elections. The Democratic nominee for the seat was Tim Mahoney. Florida law prohibited Foley's name from being removed from the ballot at the time of his withdrawal from the race, but Republicans hoped that voters would recognize that a vote for Foley would transfer to Negron as a substitute candidate. Nevertheless, Boehner noted that because of the procedures in Florida, "to vote for this candidate, you have to vote for Mark Foley. How many people are going to hold their nose to do that?" Negron used the slogan, "Punch Foley for Joe," having the double meaning of officially voting for Foley in order to really elect Negron as well as evoking images of physically striking the offending member of Congress. Foley's Republican-held seat was regarded as unlikely to change hands before the scandal broke, but CQPolitics changed its rating of the race from Safe Republican – where it had stood since July – to Leans Democratic in early-October. On Election Day, Mahoney won the seat.
unexpectedly trailing by only two percentage points (43%-45%),http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportPopup.aspx?g=039e2dd3-c5b7-4f9c-9ec3-b1e211f1f5b7&q=31713 a statistical tie. A subsequent SurveyUSA poll taken a week after the first poll show Davis now leading 50-45,http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportPopup.aspx?g=87fac115-8aab-4717-a1af-ac0880f063b5&q=32047 outside of either poll's margin of error. A Zogby telephone poll conducted on October 4-5, after the scandal had been in the news for a week, found Reynolds trailing 33-48.http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061008/1033841.asp Nevertheless, Reynolds won the race.
in Minnesota's 6th District
, Mary Jo Kilroy
in Ohio's 15th
, Maxine Moul
in Nebraska's 1st district
, and Baron Hill
in Indiana's 9th
came out with ads connecting their opponents to the Republican leadership and, by association, Mark Foley.
(R-IL) called for the page program to be temporarily suspended. He stated that "this is a flawed program. The fact that a member of Congress is sending e-mails to a page and that he can get away with it [shows that] obviously there are problems." Two more Representatives, Jon Porter
(R-NV) and Kay Granger
(R-TX) also supported LaHood's recommendation to suspend the page program until an outside team could evaluate its security protocol. Hastert announced on October 5, 2006 that he was launching an investigation to evaluate and make improvements to the page program.
for sexual relations can differ from the age of majority, being dictated by statutory rape laws, and varies by state (it is 16 in the District of Columbia).
The email that first came to light was sent to a 16-year-old former page in Louisiana, where the age of consent is 17. However, the age of consent is relevant only in cases where there has been physical, sexual contact. Foley has not been accused of any such contact with this youth, and has specifically denied sexual contact with any minor through his lawyer. On another occasion he offered a narrower denial of "inappropriate sexual contact with a minor".
The minimum age for House pages is 16. Two former pages have told news organizations that Foley arranged sexual liaisons with them but only after they turned 18 and 21 respectively. On October 19, anonymous law enforcement sources said that FBI interviews with at least 40 former pages involved in the case had not found evidence of any sex crimes by Mark Foley. The FBI identified a pattern where Foley began courting the pages at age 16 or 17 but waited until they turned 18 to have sex.
In the state of Florida, the age of consent on the internet is 18. If Foley broke the law in Florida, and is convicted, he would be a sex offender
, although the Constitutionality of such a law is probably in dispute in light of issues dealing with interstate commerce and the challenge in having one age of consent law for sex and another one for the Internet. Yet, no formal charges have been filed against him, as of Fall 2007.
, covers certain Internet communications with minors under 18. Federal law makes it a crime to solicit sex with a minor below the age of consent. However, federal law does not prohibit an individual from engaging in explicit, sexual communications with a minor per se.
Some state laws criminalize certain communications with minors, even in the absence of physical sexual contact. In Florida, which Foley represented in Congress, the age of consent is 18 and attempts to seduce a minor are illegal. Louisiana makes it a felony to have sexually explicit communications over the Internet with anyone under 17. California has a law against sending sexually suggestive communications to anyone under 18.
The initially publicized explicit IMs were made with two pages or former pages beginning when they were 16 or 17, and continuing until after their 18th birthdays. One of the pages told the FBI that his contacts with Foley led to two meetings, including a dinner in San Diego in October 2002, when the page was 17. After dinner, the page said, Foley invited him back to his hotel room and "touched his leg," but nothing untoward happened beyond that in a 20 minute visit.
Solicitation
Literally, solicitation means: 'urgently asking'. It is the action or instance of soliciting; petition; proposal. In criminal law, it most commonly refers to either the act of offering goods or services, or the act of attempting to purchase such goods or services...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
s and sexually suggestive instant message
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
s sent by Mark Foley
Mark Foley
Mark Adam Foley is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party....
, a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional page
United States House of Representatives Page
United States House of Representatives Page Program was a program run by the United States House of Representatives, under the office of the Clerk of the House, in which appointed high school juniors acted as non-partisan federal employees in the House of Representatives, providing supplemental...
s. Investigation was closed by the FDLE on September 19, 2008 citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges as both "Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey. The scandal grew to encompass the response of Republican congressional leaders to previous complaints about Foley's contacts with the pages and inconsistencies in the leaders' public statements. There were also allegations that a second Republican Congressman, Jim Kolbe
Jim Kolbe
James Thomas "Jim" Kolbe is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Arizona's 8th congressional district, serving 11 terms from 1985 to 2007.-Early life:...
, had improper conduct with at least two youths, a 16-year old page and a recently graduated page.
The scandal led to Foley's resignation from Congress on September 29, 2006. In some quarters, the scandal is believed to have contributed to the Republican Party's loss of control over Congress in the November 7, 2006 election
United States House elections, 2006
- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
, as well as the end of House Speaker
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Dennis Hastert
Dennis Hastert
John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
's leadership of the House Republicans. Kirk Fordham
Kirk Fordham
Kirk Fordham serves as the CEO of the Miami-based Everglades Foundation. A wide range of prominent businessmen and women serve on the Board of Directors of the Foundation, including hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, recording artist Jimmy Buffett, golfer Jack Nicklaus and retailer-newspaper...
, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds , commonly known as Tom Reynolds, is a politician from the U.S. state of New York, formerly representing the state's 26th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives...
and former chief of staff for Foley, also resigned as a result of the scandal.
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
's June 7, 2010 issue's BACK STORY listed Foley, among others, as prominent conservative politician who had a record of anti-gay legislation and was later caught in a gay sex scandal.
The questionable conversations, which took place between 1995 and 2005, were investigated by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
for possible criminal violations. In September 2008, Florida officials investigating Foley decided not to charge him, citing a lack of evidence and the expiration of the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
. The House Ethics Committee investigated the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to earlier warnings about Foley's conduct. In early October 2006, two news organizations anonymously quoted former pages who said that they had sexual liaisons with Foley after turning 18 and 21. Foley was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which introduced legislation targeting sexual predator
Sexual predator
The term sexual predator is used pejoratively to describe a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" for his or her sex partners...
s and created stricter guidelines for tracking them.
E-mails
In 2005, Foley sent five e-mails to a 16-year-old former page from MonroeMonroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
, Louisiana who had been sponsored by Rep. Rodney Alexander
Rodney Alexander
Rodney McKinnie Alexander is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district covers twenty-two parishes in roughly the northeast quadrant of the state...
(R
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
-LA). They were the first messages to be made public in the scandal. Among other things, Foley asked for a photo of the page, his age and birthday, and what he wanted for a birthday present. Foley observed that another male page (to whom he had also written) was "in really great shape... i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey..." The page forwarded the e-mails to a colleague in Alexander's office, saying "this really freaked me out," and repeating the word "sick" 13 times in a row to describe the photo request. The page asked "if you can, please tell Rodney [Alexander] about this," and in addition, mentioned a female page who had been warned about a Congressman who "hit on" interns.
ABC News reported on October 5 that in 2002, Foley e-mailed one page with an invitation to stay at the congressman's home in exchange for oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
. The page, who was 17 years old at the time, declined the offer. The same report stated that he e-mailed another with a request for a photograph of his erect penis. Another former page reported that he saw sexually explicit e-mails sent to one page from his page class of 2001-2002, and learned of "three or four" pages from that class who received similar e-mails.
Instant messages
After the initial story on the e-mails, other pages contacted ABC and The Washington Post, providing transcripts of sexually explicit instant messagingInstant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
(IM) conversations from 2003 that Foley had with two pages who were under the age of 18 at the time. The Washington Post reported that it had received its copies of the same IMs from a page who had served on Capitol Hill with the two pages to whom they had been addressed.
Another former page, Tyson Vivyan, said that he had received "sexually suggestive" messages from Foley in 1997, a month after he left the page program. A page from the class of 1998 also reported receiving explicit IMs from Foley. A page from the class of 2000 reported that he chatted with Foley during the Congressman's 2000 visit to the page dormitory, and that afterwards, he began receiving e-mails and IMs from Foley, which became explicit immediately after his 18th birthday.
Sources of messages and chronology
In November 2005, the initial five e-mails were leaked out of Alexander's office, after the recipient (a page whom Alexander sponsored) reported them to the Congressman.Two Florida newspapers, the St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
and the Miami Herald, and the Fox News Channel acquired copies of these e-mails in November 2005, but decided not to publish a story. According to an editor at the St. Petersburg Times, they received the e-mails from a source in Alexander's office.
The St. Petersburg Times editors decided the exchange was probably just "friendly chit-chat". Nonetheless, they assigned two reporters to investigate in November 2005. The recipient of the e-mail refused to cooperate with the reporters, and no other pages they interviewed had complaints about correspondence with Foley. The Times revisited their investigation "more than once", ultimately choosing not to break the story.
Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein is an American editor covering the Washington bureau for Harper's Magazine. In addition to contributing to the print edition of Harper's Magazine, Silverstein publishes a weblog entitled "Washington Babylon" on the magazine's website...
, an editor at Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, said that he received copies of the five e-mails in May 2006 from a "Democratic operative". Silverstein subsequently wrote a story on the e-mails, which was cancelled due to a lack of absolute proof that Foley was anything more than "creepy". He said that his source "was not working in concert with the national Democratic Party" but was "genuinely disgusted" by Foley's behavior. Silverstein himself passed the information to other media organizations after cancelling the story.
In July 2006, a paid Republican Congressional staffer sent copies of the e-mails to several Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
media organizations through an intermediary. The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
(CREW) said it received copies of the e-mails on July 21 and turned them over to the FBI that same day.
In August 2006, ABC News reporter Brian Ross
Brian Ross (journalist)
Brian Elliot Ross is an American investigative correspondent for ABC News. He has been with ABC News since July 1994. From 1974 until 1994, Ross was a correspondent for NBC News.-Major scoops:...
received the initial e-mails from a Republican source but did not write a story for over a month because he was working on other stories.
On September 24, 2006, the e-mails were released by Lane Hudson
Lane Hudson
Lane Hudson is a former campaign worker for the United States Democratic Party and a liberal blogger who exposed the Mark Foley scandal.Hudson was profiled in Time magazine's December 13, 2006 issue.-Early life:...
on his anonymous blog Stop Sex Predators. Hudson was at the time employed by the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
. When the HRC found out about Hudson's activity during the week of October 25, 2006, it publicly fired him for misusing its resources. At the time of his firing, the Board of Directors of HRC included Jeff Trandahl
Jeff Trandahl
Jeffrey Joseph Trandahl served as the thirty-second Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected Clerk on January 6, 1999 and held office until November 18, 2005.-Personal:...
, who also had prior knowledge and involvement with the issue.
The political humor blog Wonkette
Wonkette
Wonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
drew readers' attention to the posted e-mails on September 27. The next day, September 28, Ross reported on the e-mails which he had received in August.
After that initial story, two sources brought copies of more explicit instant messages to ABC News and The Washington Post. Both were former pages — the first was a Republican who would "never vote for a Democrat", and the second was a Democrat from the same class as the two pages who received the messages.
Physical contact
In early-October 2006, two news organizations anonymously quoted former pages as saying that they had sexual liaisons with Foley after they turned 18 and 21, respectively.Visits and meetings
On at least two different occasions, one in the summer of 2000 and one in 2002 or 2003, Foley allegedly visited the dormitory where pages live. On the first occasion, he drove up in his BMW automobile during a nighttime "mixer" party. Students came out of the dorm to talk with him and were warned away by an adult supervisor in the page program, who shooed them back inside.In the second visit, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
reported that Foley showed up at the dormitory after the 10 P.M. curfew, apparently drunk, and attempted to enter the building. He was reportedly turned away by a security guard.
Other meetings include a dinner with one former page, then 17, after which he invited the youth back to his hotel room and "touched his leg", and a visit by two pages in 1997 to Foley's Washington condo where they consumed pizza and soda. Another page reported that Foley repeatedly invited him out for ice cream.
Sexual liaisons
Though Foley is not alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with pages during the time of their service, he allegedly had, on at least two occasions, sexual relationships with ex-pages.In communications with one of the pages, who chose to remain anonymous, Foley appeared to emphasize that while he assessed the attractions and orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
of pages, he waited until they had left the program to engage the youth in erotic activities: "I always knew you were a player but I don't fool around with pages."
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
contacted the anonymous former page, according to a report in the paper on October 8, "after others identified him as someone whose contacts with Foley went beyond graphic messages." The page said that after leaving the page program, he began receiving instant messages from Maf54, Mark Foley's chat username, that quickly became provocative in nature. According to the Times:
The ex-page said that in the fall of 2000, when he was 21 years old, he engaged in sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with Foley at the congressman's Washington residence. According to the former page's account, "[t]he two had wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
on a backyard patio
Patio
A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of the sort found in Spanish-style dwellings or a paved area between a residence and a garden....
and then retired to a spare bedroom."
Another former page told ABC News that Foley arranged a sexual liaison with him but only after he turned 18.
Foley's response
After the initial e-mails had been publicized, Foley's office confirmed that Foley had sent the messages but said they were innocuous, and accused his election opponent of orchestrating a smear.Shortly after being questioned by ABC about the more explicit IMs—and before they had been publicly revealed—Foley resigned from Congress. The congressman issued a statement, saying, "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."
Kirk Fordham
Kirk Fordham
Kirk Fordham serves as the CEO of the Miami-based Everglades Foundation. A wide range of prominent businessmen and women serve on the Board of Directors of the Foundation, including hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, recording artist Jimmy Buffett, golfer Jack Nicklaus and retailer-newspaper...
, Chief of Staff to Representative and National Republican Congressional Committee
National Republican Congressional Committee
The National Republican Congressional Committee is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives....
Chairman Tom Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds , commonly known as Tom Reynolds, is a politician from the U.S. state of New York, formerly representing the state's 26th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and former Chief of Staff to Foley, said that he was with Foley when ABC confronted him with the explicit IMs. Fordham said that he asked Foley if they were authentic, and that Foley replied, "Probably." According to Newsweek, Foley "knew he was finished." Fordham then visited GOP headquarters to inform Hastert and Reynolds; he returned with a one-sentence resignation letter that Foley signed. A short time later, Foley submitted his resignation to Governor Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
and left the capital.
Once the scandal broke in full, Foley had virtually no chance of staying in Congress. Hastert and Reynolds let it be known that if Foley did not sign the resignation letter, they would have sought his expulsion from the House. Polls showed him losing badly to his Democratic challenger, businessman Tim Mahoney
Tim Mahoney
Timothy Edward "Tim" Mahoney was a U.S. Representative for and a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected in November 2006 after his opponent, six-term Republican incumbent Mark Foley, resigned on September 29, 2006, after questions were raised about an email exchange with a congressional...
.
On October 2, Foley checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
for alcoholism. On October 3 Foley’s lawyer stated, "Mark Foley has never, ever had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life. He is absolutely, positively not a pedophile
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
." He also stated that Foley himself was a victim of sexual assault by an unnamed clergyman as a child, that the inappropriate conversations were the result of a secret alcohol problem
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and primarily occurred while Foley was intoxicated, and that Foley is gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Previously, when confronted with speculations that he was gay, Foley labeled them "revolting and unforgivable". However, Foley's homosexuality had been an open secret
Open secret
An open secret is a concept or idea that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned are willing to categorically acknowledge in public.Examples of...
in Washington for many years.
Alleged molestation of Foley
After demands to do so, Foley privately identified the priest he alleged had abused him as a child. However, the public revelation of his identity, Anthony Mercieca, a 69-year old Catholic priest now living in MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, came through the investigative reporting of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is a daily newspaper located in Sarasota, Florida.It is owned by The New York Times Company, who purchased it in 1982, and part of its regional news group. Along with Comcast, the newspaper operates a local 24-hour...
.
Parallel to Foley's disclosure, Mercieca held several interviews in which he described a two-year relationship with Foley from when the youth was a thirteen-year-old altar boy at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Lake Worth
Lake Worth, Florida
Lake Worth is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, which takes its name from the body of water along its eastern border, originally called "Lake Worth", and now generally known as the Lake Worth Lagoon. The lake itself was named for General William J. Worth, who led U.S. forces during the last...
, Florida until he was fifteen. He told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about a number of intimate occasions that the priest claimed "Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate", such as "massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake in Lake Worth and being naked in the same room on overnight trips." Mercieca hinted at an even more intimate event, which he claimed took place while he was under the influence of tranquilizers and alcohol, and which he could not clearly recollect, and that he taught Foley "some wrong things" related to sex, which he did not specify.
In a separate AP interview, he recounted that: "We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers. It was not what you call intercourse...There was no rape or anything...Maybe light touches here or there." And he told a Florida TV station that it was not abuse, which is against someone's will: "He seemed to like it, you know? So it was sort of more like a spontaneous thing." The Archdiocese of Miami issued a statement apologizing to Foley for "the hurt he experienced" from the priest's "morally reprehensible" actions, and suspended Mercieca's faculties.
According to Mercieca, he last saw Foley at a dinner meeting 18 years ago in a restaurant in Fort Worth. When asked whether he had anything to say to Foley, Mercieca said, "Remember the good times we had together, you know, and how well we enjoyed each other’s company." He added, "Don’t keep dwelling on this thing, you know?" Mercieca could be prosecuted for his activities with Foley because the relevant statutes of limitations had expired, and the Palm Beach County state attorney's office "cannot conduct an investigation because Foley has declined to press charges."
A childhood friend of Foley's, Jon Ombres, confirmed the close friendship between the two, and suggested that there may have been a second priest, sexually interested in youths and with whom Foley was on good terms, active in the parish at that time.
As of October 25, Mercieca faced new accusations, leveled by a former altar boy who claims having been abused by him in the seventies at the age of twelve. Mercieca, speaking through his lawyer, denied the second accusation, claiming that it is "at best as a figment of the imagination and at worst a malicious fabrication." On July 18, 2007, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
The Archdiocese of Miami is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America. Its ecclesiastic territory includes Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of Florida. The archdiocese is the metropolitan see for the Ecclesiastical Province of Miami,...
settled a lawsuit brought against it by the former altar boy. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The lawsuit had sought more than $10,000,000 in damages.
Other Congressmen
As an apparent result of the Foley scandal, allegations of inappropriate contact with pages have been made against other congressmen.Jim Kolbe
Two allegations were made against another Republican Congressman, Jim KolbeJim Kolbe
James Thomas "Jim" Kolbe is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Arizona's 8th congressional district, serving 11 terms from 1985 to 2007.-Early life:...
. The first to be made public involves a 1996 rafting trip Kolbe took on the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
with two recently graduated, 17-year-old male pages, as well as Kolbe's sister, five of his staffers, and Gary Cummins, the deputy superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park is the United States' 15th oldest national park and is located in Arizona. Within the park lies the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, considered to be one of the Wonders of the World. The park covers of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties.Most...
at the time. An anonymous participant told NBC that he was "creeped out" by the attention Kolbe paid to one of the pages, adding that Kolbe did a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back. The page in question declined to address that statement, telling NBC, "I just don't want to get into this... because I might possibly be considered for a job in the administration." He did say that he had a "blast" on the trip and did not report anything improper to his parents or page officials afterwards.
On the day that the Justice Department investigation of the first allegation was made public, October 12, 2006, Kolbe's spokeswoman Korenna Cline said that his office had not been contacted by the Justice Department or House Ethics Committee. She then resigned abruptly, saying "I have decided to pursue another job opportunity and today is my last day."
In the second allegation, a page told the FBI and House Clerk's
Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House....
office that he was "uncomfortable with a particular social encounter" including physical contact that occurred in 2001 when he and Kolbe were alone. The page was 16 at the time and had not reported the incident.
These allegations were also been the topic of a conference call between the members of the House Page Review Board, which referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee since it did not have jurisdiction over Congressmen.
Trandahl, speaking as the former House Clerk, reportedly stated that Kolbe was one of a small group of "problem members" of congress who frequently socialized with House pages in inappropriate ways.
Unnamed congressman
Congressman Jerry WellerJerry Weller
Gerald C. "Jerry" Weller is an American politician who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing .- Early life:...
(R-IL) sent the House Page Board and House Ethics Committee a report that a page he sponsored was "inappropriately invited to a social function by another congressman." He declined to make any further details public.
Congress
Other leaders whose roles have been criticized include Reynolds, John BoehnerJohn Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
, John Shimkus
John Shimkus
John Mondy Shimkus is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party....
, Ken Mehlman
Ken Mehlman
Kenneth Brian Mehlman is an American businessman, attorney, and political figure who served as the campaign manager for the 2004 re-election campaign of George W. Bush and Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2007. In 2007, President Bush appointed Mehlman to the U.S...
, and Sue W. Kelly
Sue W. Kelly
Sue Weisenbarger Kelly was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007, representing New York's 19th District. She is a Republican. She took over fellow Republican Hamilton Fish IV's seat after he dropped out of the 1994 race due to prostate cancer...
.
Also significant in the scandal is the office of Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer
Chief administrative officer
A chief administrative officer is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive officer. In some companies,...
of the United States House of Representatives. The Clerk is responsible for the effective administration of all personnel matters, including those relating to the house pages. The two Clerks of the House during the scandal were Jeff Trandahl
Jeff Trandahl
Jeffrey Joseph Trandahl served as the thirty-second Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected Clerk on January 6, 1999 and held office until November 18, 2005.-Personal:...
and Karen Haas; the latter was elevated to the position from being floor assistant for Hastert after Trandahl resigned on November 18, 2005.
Knowledge before September 2006
At least thirteen Republican Congressmen or congressional staffers acknowledged that they knew of the five initial e-mails before they were made public: Majority Leader John BoehnerJohn Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
(Ohio); Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds , commonly known as Tom Reynolds, is a politician from the U.S. state of New York, formerly representing the state's 26th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives...
; Alexander
Rodney Alexander
Rodney McKinnie Alexander is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district covers twenty-two parishes in roughly the northeast quadrant of the state...
and John Shimkus
John Shimkus
John Mondy Shimkus is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party....
(Ill.) (Chairman of the House Page Board); Hastert
Dennis Hastert
John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
, Mike Stokke, Ted Van Der Meid
Ted Van Der Meid
Theodore J. Van Der Meid , was Counsel/Director of Floor Operations, Office of the Speaker, serving Speaker Dennis Hastert in the United States Congress...
, and Tim Kennedy
Tim Kennedy
Tim Kennedy is an American ice hockey forward who plays for the Florida Panthers organization of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
in Hastert's office; Paula Nowakowski, Boehner’s chief of staff; Trandahl; Alexander’s chief of staff (Royal Alexander, no relation) and another Alexander staffer, Danielle Savoy, Fordham; Kolbe, and Kolbe's staffer.
While at first no Democratic Congressman or staffers were shown to have had such knowledge, later investigation suggested that the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee were also aware of the initial emails
1995-1999
Kurt Wolfe, the journalist who first outed Foley in The Advocate in 1996, said that one of the original independent sources he found to corroborate Foley's orientation was an ex-page. An adult by the time of his meeting with Wolfe, he described having been "the recipient of many inappropriate sexual communications from Foley" while a minor. Wolfe contacted Foley's office for comment, and was rebuffed. Nevertheless, he asserts about Foley's staff: "They were notified."Several current and former congressional employees recalled Foley approaching young male pages at parties, going back many years, and say that warnings about him were commonly passed around. Generally speaking, he was "known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made some [pages] uncomfortable." According to Mark Beck-Heyman, who served as a Republican page in summer 1995, "Almost the first day I got there I was warned. It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages." He alleged that many people on Capitol Hill, including Republican staffers, "have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing." Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said on MSNBC that "I‘ve had people now on staff that used to be pages, and it was widely known to watch out for him, that he liked boys ... so pages were warned to watch out for him."
2000–2004
On October 9, The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported that in 2000, a former page showed Kolbe
Jim Kolbe
James Thomas "Jim" Kolbe is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Arizona's 8th congressional district, serving 11 terms from 1985 to 2007.-Early life:...
messages from Foley that made the page feel uncomfortable. According to The Washington Post, these messages were sexually explicit, a characterization that Kolbe's press secretary denied. The Washington Post reported that Kolbe confronted Foley about the messages. Kolbe's press secretary said that unspecified "corrective action" was taken. Kolbe later said that the former page, whom Kolbe had sponsored, told him of a "creepy" e-mail from Foley, but did not show it to him. Kolbe said that, through his staff, he passed the complaint on to Trandahl and to Foley's office. Kolbe said that he did not confront Foley about the matter, and that he recalled that the incident had taken place later than 2000.
Another page, Matthew Loraditch, stated that when he served in 2001 pages had been warned to "watch out for Congressman Mark Foley,"
though he later softened his description of the warning.
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
reported that in 2002 or 2003, Foley showed up at the pages' dormitory after the 10 P.M. curfew, apparently drunk, and attempted to enter the building. He was reportedly turned away by a security guard. Newsweek stated that Trandahl notified Fordham (then Foley's Chief of Staff and later Congressman Tom Reynolds' chief of staff), and that Fordham in turn contacted Scott B. Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, describing Foley's behavior generally but not mentioning the incident at the pages' dormitory. This account further stated that Fordham followed up a couple of days later with Palmer, who replied that he had "informed the Speaker" and "dealt with it" by talking to Foley directly.
Testifying under oath before a House ethics committee panel, Fordham said that months before he left Foley's office in January 2004, he had told Hastert's office about the conduct by Mark Foley with male teenage pages. Palmer has categorically denied that meeting between him and Fordham ever took place: "What Kirk Fordham says happened did not happen." However, on October 6 a second congressional staffer corroborated Fordham's version of the events, claiming that in 2003 a meeting took place between Palmer and Foley, specifically to discuss complaints about his behavior towards pages.
Trandahl, testifying to a closed session of the House Ethics Committee, reportedly also confirmed that Hastert's office was notified of Mr. Foley's behavior in 2003. He stated that he regularly updated Hastert's counsel and floor manager, Ted Van Der Meid, about a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages outside of official duties." One member of the group was Foley.
2005–2006
Rep. Rodney AlexanderRodney Alexander
Rodney McKinnie Alexander is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district covers twenty-two parishes in roughly the northeast quadrant of the state...
(R-LA
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
) stated that he learned of the five initial e-mails from Foley to the 16-year old page from Louisiana in the fall of 2005, after a news reporter brought the matter to his attention. Alexander spoke to the boy's parents, who did not wish to pursue the matter beyond stopping the e-mails. Alexander's chief of staff met with Mike Stokke, Hastert's deputy chief of staff in the fall of 2005. They met with Trandahl. Contradictory statements have made it unclear whether they actually read the e-mails. Trandahl then met with Shimkus
John Shimkus
John Mondy Shimkus is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party....
, and Shimkus and Trandahl met privately with Foley, and Shimkus told him to cease contact with the page. The other two congressional representatives on the House Page committee (including the only Democrat) were not informed, and no formal investigative or disciplinary action was taken.
After testifying in closed session before the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Alexander also announced that “There are many people who know what we know, and have known it for a lot longer period of time than we’ve known.” He did not name names publicly, however.
In the spring of 2006, Rep. Alexander mentioned the case to Boehner, who referred him to Rep. Reynolds (R-NY
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
National Republican Congressional Committee
The National Republican Congressional Committee is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives....
. Both Reynolds and Boehner say that they notified Hastert; he says he can't recall that and questions whether it is true.
When the story became public, Hastert said that he had learned of the e-mails only when the news broke in late September, 2006.
Reynolds said on September 30 that he had spoken with Hastert about the matter early in 2006 after being approached by Alexander to discuss the matter. According to The Washington Post, "Republican insiders said Reynolds spoke out because he was angry that Hastert appeared willing to let him take the blame for the party leadership's silence." Hastert's office said that Hastert did not "explicitly recall" that conversation but said he did not dispute it.
Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
told The Washington Post that he had learned of the emails in the spring. Boehner initially said that he informed Hastert, and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it." After Hastert denied knowledge to the press, Boehner retracted his statement, stating that he could not recall the conversation. Boehner later stated that he was "99 percent" sure he had informed Hastert.
House Page Board
A board consisting of three House members and two congressional staffers, chaired by ShimkusJohn Shimkus
John Mondy Shimkus is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party....
, supervises the House page program. The staffers, who are automatic members, are the House Clerk
Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House....
and the House Sergeant At Arms.
Although Shimkus was aware of the five initially reported e-mails in 2005, he did not inform the rest of the board aside from Trandahl. Shimkus said he "was asked to keep this in confidence" because the parents of the page didn't want the incident publicized. The other two representatives on the board, Dale Kildee (D
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
-MI
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
) and Shelley Moore Capito
Shelley Moore Capito
Shelley Moore Capito is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2001. She is a member of the Republican Party...
(R-WV
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
) did not find out about them until the scandal broke in October 2006. Kildee said that he was "very upset" that he had not been informed of the e-mails. He said, "I should have been told. The whole House Page Board should have been told." Capito said that she would have recommended stronger action had she been made aware of the original e-mails.
There are separate supervisors for the Republican and Democratic pages. Peggy Sampson has supervised Republican pages since 1986, and several former pages say that she warned them about Mark Foley. Wren Ivester is the supervisor of Democratic pages. No Democratic pages have said they were warned about Foley, and several contacted by ABC News said they had not been told about him. Both supervisors testified before a closed session of the House Ethics Committee on October 11, 2006.
On October 16, 2006, the Board held a conference call to discuss allegations in the Kolbe incident in 1996 (discussed above).
Dennis Hastert
Hastert claimed at first that he had learned of the e-mails only when the news broke on September 29, 2006 and repeated this declaration on October 5. Two other top leaders in the House, Boehner and Reynolds, however, have stated that they told Hastert about the Foley emails in the spring of 2006. Boehner added that Hastert replied that the complaint "had been taken care of", and confirmed his account under oath before the House Ethics Committee. A September 30 statement by the Speaker's office said that Hastert did not "explicitly recall" the conversation with Reynolds but "has no reason to dispute" it.Hastert's office concedes, in its own chronology, that his top staffers Mike Stokke (deputy chief of staff), Ted Van Der Meid (legal counsel) and a lower placed assistant named Tim Kennedy were told about the Foley emails by Rep. Alexander's chief of staff in November 2005. They deny that Scott Palmer knew about the emails until they were made public, though. Hastert is unusually close to his top staffers; he lives with Palmer and Stokke, who have worked for him for decades, and they commute back to Illinois together on weekends.
Fordham, who had been Foley's chief of staff until January 2004, and chief of staff to Congressman Reynolds from 2005 until he resigned on October 4, 2006, said that he told Scott Palmer about Foley's interest in pages in 2003, that Palmer met with Foley, and that Hastert knew about the meeting. Palmer replied that "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen", but on October 6 a second congressional staffer corroborated Fordham's account, claiming that a 2003 meeting took place between Palmer and Foley specifically to discuss complaints about his behavior towards pages.
At an October 2 press conference, Hastert called the IMs "vile and repulsive." He also said that had Foley not resigned, he would have demanded his expulsion from the House. He also condemned Foley for misleading him, Shimkus and the organizations with whom he'd worked to strengthen laws against exploiting children. Hastert requested a criminal investigation of the explicit IMs, but not of the earlier, less explicit e-mails exchanged between Foley and the page sponsored by Alexander.
However, the following day, on the Rush Limbaugh Show he altered his account of Foley's departure from the House, now taking credit for having "asked him to resign." The new version was repeated uncritically by a number of media sources, which did not challenge the contradiction.
On October 3, the Washington Times called for Hastert's resignation as Speaker over his handling of the scandal. Prominent conservatives also have called for Hastert's resignation, such as David Bossie
David Bossie
David N. Bossie is an American political activist. Since 2000 he has been President and Chairman of conservative advocacy organization Citizens United.-Early life:...
, president of Citizens United
Citizens United
Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization in the United States. Its president and chairman is David Bossie.-Overview:Citizens United describes its mission as being dedicated to restoring the United States government to "citizens' control" and to "assert American values of limited...
; conservative columnist Richard Viguerie
Richard Viguerie
Richard Art Viguerie is a conservative figure, pioneer of political direct mail and writer on American politics...
; and conservative columnist Michael Reagan
Michael Reagan
Michael Edward Reagan is a former American radio host and Republican strategist. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Michael Reagan Talk Show, aired on stations throughout the United States on the Premiere Radio Networks before being dropped, after which it moved to Radio America...
, son of former President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Hastert has rebuffed these calls to resign, arguing he did nothing wrong and is committed to investigating the scandal and leading Congress. Boehner also defended Hastert in a letter to the editor of Washington Times. A conference call on October 2 with about 100 House Republicans had no calls for a resignation.
On October 5, Hastert accepted responsibility for the scandal but refused to step down. He said, "I haven't done anything wrong" and re-affirmed that he had only recently learned about any problems involving Foley and the pages: "I learned of this last Friday... I don't know who knew what or when--that's why we've asked for an investigation."
Tom Reynolds
Reynolds issued a statement that he had spoken with Hastert about the matter early in 2006. According to The Washington Post, "Republican insiders said Reynolds spoke out because he was angry that Hastert appeared willing to let him take the blame for the party leadership's silence." Hastert did not "explicitly recall" that conversation but said he did not dispute it.Reynolds commented on his role in the events, "I don't think I went wrong at all...I don't know what else I could have done."
The question of Reynolds's role in the scandal nearly cost him his seat in the November 2006 election. According to conservative columnist Robert Novak
Robert Novak
Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
, Reynolds convinced a reluctant Foley to run for re-election even after finding out about his questionable e-mails. Reynolds also contributed $5,000 to Foley's re-election fund, apparently after finding out about his behavior. Indeed, Reynolds won reelection by only four percentage points despite representing a district that had been altered specifically to protect him.
On October 4, 2006, Fordham, Reynolds's Chief of Staff, resigned after newspapers reported that he had asked ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
not to report the text of the sexually explicit instant messages. ABC reported that Fordham had offered to give them an exclusive on the resignation if they withheld the text of the IMs. Fordham had previously served as Foley's Chief of Staff. Fordham told The Associated Press that he had warned Hastert's staff about Foley in 2003. Hastert's spokesman replied, "What Kirk Fordham said never happened."
It has been reported that prior to the public scandal, Reynolds, together with Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
, urged Foley to run for reelection in 2006, despite Foley's reluctance.
John Shimkus
Shimkus said "that in late-2005 he learned--through information passed along by Alexander's office--about an e-mail exchange in which Foley asked about the youngster's well-being after Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and requested a photograph." Shimkus advised Foley not to contact the boy again, and Foley assured him he would not. Shimkus did not share the information with Reps. Kildee or Capito, the other members of the Page Board.
Shimkus later described Foley as a "slimeball," and regretted not pressing further. Unlike Reynolds, he had little difficulty winning reelection.
John Boehner
Boehner told The Washington Post that he learned of the inappropriate contact in the spring. Boehner initially said that he informed Hastert, and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it." After Hastert denied knowledge of this conversation, Boehner retracted, saying that he could not recall it. On October 3, Boehner once again recanted, this time telling a radio interviewer "I believe I talked to the Speaker and he told me it had been taken care of."House Ethics Committee
Late on September 29, 2006, House Minority LeaderMinority leader of the United States House of Representatives
The House Minority Leader is one of the party leaders of the United States House of Representatives. This title is currently held by Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California....
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
(D-CA) offered a resolution to direct the House Ethics Committee
United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct....
to create a subcommittee to investigate Foley and the Republican leadership. Boehner moved to immediately refer Pelosi's resolution to the Ethics Committee without further debate and the House unanimously agreed.
On October 5, 2006, the House Ethics Committee met and established a subcommittee to investigate the page sex scandal. The House subcommittee members are Reps. Doc Hastings
Doc Hastings
Richard Norman "Doc" Hastings is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes most of the central part of the state, including Yakima, Wenatchee, and the Tri-Cities....
(R-WA), Howard Berman
Howard Berman
Howard Lawrence Berman is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He earlier served in the California State Assembly from 1974 to 1982, and as the U.S...
(D-CA), Judy Biggert
Judy Biggert
Judith Borg "Judy" Biggert is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. She is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:...
(R-IL), and Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Stephanie "Tubbs" Jones was a Democratic politician and member of the United States House of Representatives. She represented the 11th District of Ohio, which encompasses most of downtown and eastern Cleveland and many of the eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County, including Euclid, Cleveland Heights,...
(D-OH). The subcommittee has already sent subpoenas and has appointed Louis Freeh
Louis Freeh
Louis Joseph Freeh was the 5th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 1993 to June 2001....
as a special advisor. The committee opened an expansive investigation into the unfolding scandal on 5 October 2006 by approving nearly four dozen subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s for witnesses and documents.
The Ethics Committee has no power over Foley, who is no longer a member of Congress. As a result, its chairman has said it will focus on the "conduct of House members, officers and staff related to information concerning improper conduct involving members and current and former pages".
On December 8, 2006, the committee reported the investigation's conclusion, finding Hastert and other Republican leaders negligent, but not in violation of any House rules. The panel did not recommend any sanctions for their failure to stop Foley. The investigation validated Trandahl's and Fordham's reports and concluded that Hastert's chief of staff first learned of Foley's conduct in 2002 or 2003, and that Hastert's chief counsel had been aware of concerns for nearly a decade.
Justice Department
On October 13, 2006, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed that they had opened a preliminary investigation of the official rafting trip taken in 1996 by Kolbe with two 17-year-old former pages.On October 1, 2006 in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
, Hastert requested an investigation into Foley's actions, specifically into the explicit IMs that had recently surfaced. Hastert's letter also requested investigation of persons who knew or had possession of these messages but did not report them to the appropriate authorities. That day, the FBI stated that it was assessing whether any federal laws had been violated.
The Justice Department sent a letter on October 4 to the counsel for the House of Representatives, ordering the body to "preserve all records" that might relate to the scandal. An order such as this is usually soon followed with search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
s and subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s.
On July 21, 2006, the director of the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
(CREW) received copies of the e-mails from one of her staff members, who had received it two days earlier. On that day, CREW turned over the e-mails to the FBI; however, the FBI found insufficient grounds to open a criminal investigation. After the scandal broke, CREW criticized the FBI's lack of action. An anonymous source in the FBI told the Washington Post that CREW was their original source for the e-mails but had provided only heavily redacted copies, even after a request for complete copies, and would not identify their source. The FBI source also alleged that CREW had held the emails since April before turning them over. However, the department spokesman would not comment on the record. CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, replied that they had provided unedited e-mails to the FBI, and that her original e-mails to the FBI proved that. She formally requested that the Justice Department's Inspector General investigate the FBI's assertions.
The resulting Inspector General's report concluded that 1) CREW had received the emails in July and turned them over to the FBI within two days; 2) the FBI's decision not to pursue charges against Foley based on the initial emails did not constitute misconduct; but 3) the FBI probably should have referred the case to the House Page Board or other authorities based on what they received.
Responses
Mark Foley's actions were almost universally condemned. The actions and inactions of Hastert and other members of the Republican House leadership were widely condemned by Democrats and some Republicans. On September 29, 2006, Rep. PelosiNancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
(D-CA) criticized Republican leaders, who, she said, "have known of the egregious behavior of Congressman Mark Foley, yet were prepared to adjourn [Congress] tonight without an Ethics Committee investigation." DCCC
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. They play a critical role in recruiting candidates, raising funds, and organizing races in districts that are expected to yield...
Chairman Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
noted that Alexander had first gone to Reynolds, who was in charge of political operations, and said, "That's to protect a member [of Congress], not to protect a child." When Foley's sexually explicit instant messages became public, a few members of the Republican Party condemned his actions. They voted unanimously with House Democrats to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee for investigation. Speaker of the House
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Dennis Hastert
Dennis Hastert
John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
also demanded a criminal investigation by writing the Attorney General asking for a full investigation both into Foley's actions and into the possibility that earlier clues were not properly acted upon by Congressional officials, representatives, the media, and the FBI.
Some members of the gay community voiced concerns over media coverage of the Mark Foley scandal, since the scandal linked homosexuality and pederasty
Pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...
, while others condemn the media's complicity in permitting Foley to remain closeted. Many Republican candidates have announced that they are either returning contributions from Foley's campaign or contributing any Foley money received in the last several years to charity. The NRCC, however, has opted to keep a $100,000 contribution made to it by Foley in July 2006, after the first, "overly friendly" e-mails had become known to House Republican leaders. Carl Forti, an NRCC spokesman, has said the campaign organization would gladly accept the $2.7 million campaign war chest that Foley controlled upon his resignation, should Foley choose to turn it over. On October 5, 2006, the parents of the former page from Louisiana, who initially complained about the e-mails to Rep. Alexander, issued a public statement. They described their son's actions as courageous, and described him as a hero for reporting the emails. They supported Alexander, calling his conduct "beyond reproach". They complained about media harassment, and asked to be left alone, requesting respect for their privacy.
Post-scandal polls and commentary
A TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
poll reported that two-thirds of those aware of the scandal believe that the Republican leadership in Congress attempted a cover-up. According to Fox News, an internal Republican poll conducted in the wake of the scandal shows potentially disastrous election results for Congressional Republicans if Hastert remains as Speaker of the House. The unnamed Republican source is quoted as saying "The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker, and the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss." For Democrats to regain control of the House, they had to post a net gain of 15 seats in the 2006 midterm elections
United States House elections, 2006
- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
.
The National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, a conservative magazine, called the scandal helpful for Democrats campaigning to regain control of one or both houses of Congress, and said it could have a greater impact than the Jack Abramoff scandals
Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal
The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal is a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Indian casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon...
since "a GOP pederasty
Pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...
scandal" is thought to resonate more strongly with the public than one involving the purchase of favors.
On October 3, the Washington Times called for Hastert's resignation as Speaker over his handling of the scandal. Other prominent conservatives have called for Hastert's resignation, such as David Bossie
David Bossie
David N. Bossie is an American political activist. Since 2000 he has been President and Chairman of conservative advocacy organization Citizens United.-Early life:...
, president of Citizens United
Citizens United
Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization in the United States. Its president and chairman is David Bossie.-Overview:Citizens United describes its mission as being dedicated to restoring the United States government to "citizens' control" and to "assert American values of limited...
; conservative columnist Richard Viguerie
Richard Viguerie
Richard Art Viguerie is a conservative figure, pioneer of political direct mail and writer on American politics...
; and conservative columnist Michael Reagan
Michael Reagan
Michael Edward Reagan is a former American radio host and Republican strategist. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Michael Reagan Talk Show, aired on stations throughout the United States on the Premiere Radio Networks before being dropped, after which it moved to Radio America...
, a son of former President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
.
A Pew Research Center poll released on October 5 indicated no significant change in registered voters' party support; before and after the scandal broke, Democrats had 51 percent support in the upcoming congressional elections, while Republicans had 38 percent support. In later polls, however, Republicans hemorrhaged support; a USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
/Gallup
The Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
survey published October 10 showed Democrats enjoying a 23-point advantage over Republicans, with an 11-point gain for Democrats, and a 12-point loss for Republicans, since a poll released on September 17.
A October 5, 2006 public opinion poll found that 27% of American thought Hastert should remain Speaker, with 43% thinking he should resign from Congress entirely.
On October 6, political scientist and analyst Stuart Rothenberg
Stuart Rothenberg
Stuart Rothenberg is an American editor, publisher, and political analyst best known for his Washington-based, biweekly, self-proclaimed non-partisan political newsletter The Rothenberg Political Report...
wrote that the scandal may have helped to "set the stage for a blowout of cosmic proportions next month" in the November elections. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato
Larry Sabato
Larry Joseph Sabato is an American political scientist and analyst. He is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, and director of its Center for Politics. He founded Sabato's Crystal Ball, an online newsletter and website that provides free political analysis and...
, on October 5, wrote in the Crystal Ball
Sabato's Crystal Ball
Sabato’s Crystal Ball is a free, nonpartisan weekly online newsletter and comprehensive website in the United States that analyzes the current American political scene and predicts electoral outcomes for U.S House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, governors, and U.S. president races...
that "the congressional page scandal [had] joined leaked reports of poor progress in Iraq and Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
's portrayal of the President Bush as a clueless war wager
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III is a book by Bob Woodward, originally due to be published October 2, 2006 , that examines how the George W. Bush administration managed the Iraq War after the 2003 invasion...
to deliver Bush and Republicans their worst, most catastrophic week of 2006."
Effect in Foley's district
In Florida, State Representative Joe NegronJoe Negron
Joe Negron is the senator for Florida's state senate district 28. He is also a former member of the Florida House of Representatives who served from 2000 to 2006. He represented District 82, serving Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties and was chairman of the Appropriations Committee...
was picked to fill Foley's spot in the November elections. The Democratic nominee for the seat was Tim Mahoney. Florida law prohibited Foley's name from being removed from the ballot at the time of his withdrawal from the race, but Republicans hoped that voters would recognize that a vote for Foley would transfer to Negron as a substitute candidate. Nevertheless, Boehner noted that because of the procedures in Florida, "to vote for this candidate, you have to vote for Mark Foley. How many people are going to hold their nose to do that?" Negron used the slogan, "Punch Foley for Joe," having the double meaning of officially voting for Foley in order to really elect Negron as well as evoking images of physically striking the offending member of Congress. Foley's Republican-held seat was regarded as unlikely to change hands before the scandal broke, but CQPolitics changed its rating of the race from Safe Republican – where it had stood since July – to Leans Democratic in early-October. On Election Day, Mahoney won the seat.
Effect in Reynolds's district
Reynolds, the head of the NRCC, who knew of some Foley e-mails before the scandal became public, released an ad apologizing to his constituents. He was thought to have a safe seat. Shortly before the scandal broke, a SurveyUSA poll found Reynolds' Democratic challenger Jack DavisJack Davis (industrialist)
John "Jack" Davis is an American industrialist and politician from Newstead, New York. He made his fourth bid for New York's 26th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the special election held on May 24, 2011. The election was held to fill the seat vacated by...
unexpectedly trailing by only two percentage points (43%-45%),http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportPopup.aspx?g=039e2dd3-c5b7-4f9c-9ec3-b1e211f1f5b7&q=31713 a statistical tie. A subsequent SurveyUSA poll taken a week after the first poll show Davis now leading 50-45,http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportPopup.aspx?g=87fac115-8aab-4717-a1af-ac0880f063b5&q=32047 outside of either poll's margin of error. A Zogby telephone poll conducted on October 4-5, after the scandal had been in the news for a week, found Reynolds trailing 33-48.http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061008/1033841.asp Nevertheless, Reynolds won the race.
Effect on other congressional races
Within a week of the scandal breaking, five candidates ran campaign ads in reaction to the scandal. Democratic House candidates Patty WetterlingPatty Wetterling
Patty Wetterling is a U.S. advocate of children's safety, particularly focused on protecting children from abduction and abuse. Her advocacy began after her son Jacob was abducted in 1989...
in Minnesota's 6th District
Minnesota's 6th congressional district
Minnesota's 6th congressional district includes most or all of Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, Anoka, and Washington counties. The district is Republican-leaning with a CPVI of R + 7. It is currently represented by Republican Michele Bachmann....
, Mary Jo Kilroy
Mary Jo Kilroy
Mary Jo Kilroy is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party from Ohio. In her first term she introduced a bill to lend $20 million per year to small businesses and an amendment to assign liability to credit reporting agencies. She...
in Ohio's 15th
Ohio's 15th congressional district
The 15th congressional district of Ohio is currently represented by Republican Steve Stivers.Union County and Madison County are entirely within the district's boundaries as is approximately half of Franklin County...
, Maxine Moul
Maxine Moul
Maxine B. Moul is a U.S. Democratic politician best known for being the 34th Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1993, the first woman to hold that position in the...
in Nebraska's 1st district
Nebraska's 1st congressional district
Nebraska's 1st congressional district seat encompasses most of the eastern quarter of the state. It includes the state capital, Lincoln, Fremont, Norfolk, Beatrice and South Sioux City. It is currently held by Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican. George W. Bush received 63% of the vote in this district...
, and Baron Hill
Baron Hill
Baron Paul Hill is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1999 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
in Indiana's 9th
Indiana's 9th congressional district
Indiana's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Located in south-central and southeastern Indiana, the district is based in Bloomington....
came out with ads connecting their opponents to the Republican leadership and, by association, Mark Foley.
Page program
On October 2, 2006, Representative Ray LaHoodRay LaHood
Raymond H. "Ray" LaHood is a Republican politician from Illinois who is currently the United States Secretary of Transportation, having served since 2009. Previously, he represented the Illinois's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms .-Early life and...
(R-IL) called for the page program to be temporarily suspended. He stated that "this is a flawed program. The fact that a member of Congress is sending e-mails to a page and that he can get away with it [shows that] obviously there are problems." Two more Representatives, Jon Porter
Jon Porter
Jonathan Christopher "Jon" Porter , an American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, the first representative elected from the new 3rd Congressional District of Nevada....
(R-NV) and Kay Granger
Kay Granger
Kay Granger , a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Texas, currently represents the 12th congressional district in the U.S...
(R-TX) also supported LaHood's recommendation to suspend the page program until an outside team could evaluate its security protocol. Hastert announced on October 5, 2006 that he was launching an investigation to evaluate and make improvements to the page program.
Legal issues
Foley, as chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, is an expert on law concerning sex with minors. His pursuit of young former pages, in many cases, carefully avoided illegality.Age of consent
In the United States, 18 years of age is the age of majority (anyone below that age is considered a minor). However, the age of consentAge of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
for sexual relations can differ from the age of majority, being dictated by statutory rape laws, and varies by state (it is 16 in the District of Columbia).
The email that first came to light was sent to a 16-year-old former page in Louisiana, where the age of consent is 17. However, the age of consent is relevant only in cases where there has been physical, sexual contact. Foley has not been accused of any such contact with this youth, and has specifically denied sexual contact with any minor through his lawyer. On another occasion he offered a narrower denial of "inappropriate sexual contact with a minor".
The minimum age for House pages is 16. Two former pages have told news organizations that Foley arranged sexual liaisons with them but only after they turned 18 and 21 respectively. On October 19, anonymous law enforcement sources said that FBI interviews with at least 40 former pages involved in the case had not found evidence of any sex crimes by Mark Foley. The FBI identified a pattern where Foley began courting the pages at age 16 or 17 but waited until they turned 18 to have sex.
In the state of Florida, the age of consent on the internet is 18. If Foley broke the law in Florida, and is convicted, he would be a sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
, although the Constitutionality of such a law is probably in dispute in light of issues dealing with interstate commerce and the challenge in having one age of consent law for sex and another one for the Internet. Yet, no formal charges have been filed against him, as of Fall 2007.
Sexual communications with minors
Legislation that Mark Foley helped enact, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety ActAdam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a federal statute that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006. The Walsh Act organizes sex offenders into three tiers and mandates that Tier 3 offenders update their whereabouts every three months with lifetime...
, covers certain Internet communications with minors under 18. Federal law makes it a crime to solicit sex with a minor below the age of consent. However, federal law does not prohibit an individual from engaging in explicit, sexual communications with a minor per se.
Some state laws criminalize certain communications with minors, even in the absence of physical sexual contact. In Florida, which Foley represented in Congress, the age of consent is 18 and attempts to seduce a minor are illegal. Louisiana makes it a felony to have sexually explicit communications over the Internet with anyone under 17. California has a law against sending sexually suggestive communications to anyone under 18.
The initially publicized explicit IMs were made with two pages or former pages beginning when they were 16 or 17, and continuing until after their 18th birthdays. One of the pages told the FBI that his contacts with Foley led to two meetings, including a dinner in San Diego in October 2002, when the page was 17. After dinner, the page said, Foley invited him back to his hotel room and "touched his leg," but nothing untoward happened beyond that in a 20 minute visit.
Alcohol use
In one instant message conversation, Foley appears to invite a minor to his house to consume alcohol. It is unknown if this ever happened, but it is a crime to provide alcohol to a person under the legal drinking age. In the District of Columbia, the law states that "anyone who purchases or furnishes alcohol to a [person below the drinking age] faces a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 180 days." In addition, an individual under the age of 21 is prohibited in the District of Columbia from consuming alcoholic beverages.See also
- 1983 Congressional page sex scandal
- Reaction formationReaction formationIn psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation is a defensive process in which anxiety-producing or unacceptable emotions and impulses are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency.-Theory:...
- United States House election, 2006
External links
- Text of some IM exchanges between Foley and page Provided by ABC News. (Warning: sexually explicit language, reader discretion is advised.)
- Email complaint from 16-year-old page, sent to Congressman Rodney Alexander's office, August 30, 2005. Provided by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
. - Statement of David Roth (Mark Foley's attorney), October 5, 2006 Provided by ABC News.
- A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Initial Response to Representative Mark Foley’s E-mails to a Former Page by the Office of the Inspector General, January 2007
- Foley scandal discussed on the Tavis SmileyTavis SmileyTavis Smiley is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of...
show - How a Blogger Put Himself in the Middle Of Mark Foley Story
- Vanity Fair article on the scandal (in the magazine's January 2007 issue)