Saturday, September 30, 2006

Foley Resigns In Sex Scandal

CLEWISTON, FLORIDA -- Congressman Mark Foley, Republican
Representative for the 16th Congressional District that includes a
broad swath from the Florida east coast to the west coast including
parts Glades and Hendry county has resigned his office.
In September 2006, it came to light that a former House page (age 16)
had shared with Hill staffers what he believed to be inappropriate
e-mails sent to him by Foley. The e-mails asked questions such about
such topics as his age, what he wanted for his birthday, and what he
liked to do in his spare time. Foley also requested a picture. Foley
claimed that he was merely being friendly and that he routinely asks
for page's pictures in order to remember them when writing recommendations.
On September 29, 2006, Foley resigned effective immediately after
other pages came forward with sexually suggestive instant messages
that Foley had sent to them. In a statement, Foley said, "I am deeply
sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of
Florida I have had the privilege to represent." Florida Republican
leaders immediately planned to meet and name a replacement to run for
Foley's seat in the November 2006 elections. Florida election law,
however, prevents the substitution of the new candidate for Foley on
the ballot.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) responded to the resignation by
asking the chairman of the House's page board, Rep. John Shimkus
(R-Ill.), to investigate the page system. He stated, "We want to make
sure that all our pages are safe and the page system is safe." With
regards to Foley's actions, he continued, "None of us are very happy
about it."
During 2004 Senate campaign, long standing rumors surfaced that Foley
is either gay or bisexual and is in a long term relationship with a
man. Initially published only in the gay press, the New Times broke
the story in the mainstream press which led to other papers including
the New York Press addressing the topic.
Foley held a press conference to denounce the "revolting" rumors and
stated that his sexual orientation was unimportant. "He wanted
reporters to know that he won't answer questions about his sexuality;
it has nothing to do with his candidacy." A few weeks later, he
withdrew his Senate candidacy, saying he wanted to spend time with
his ailing father (the seat was later won by Republican Mel Martinez).
The official 16th District Congressional website is at:
http://clerk.house.gov/members/electionInfo/Florida_16th/index.html
Ironically the House of Representatives has an official website
linked on Foley's former webpage called "Kids in the House" at
http://kids.clerk.house.gov/
-Information for this story from Sourcewatch.org

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous1:03 AM

    Mark Foley, you reap what you so, and what comes around goes around. I hope you get the max allowed by law, and on the sex offender registry, and that if you know anything about John Walsh, you squeal on him as well. ROFLMAO!!!!!! Then you will get to see how wrong these laws you help pass are.......

    ReplyDelete