2008 Woodie Awards
Foley Fallout And What It Means For Republicans
Samantha Marsh
Issue date: 10/16/06 Section: Opinions
Republican Mark Foley represented the 16th district of Florida in the House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006. In those six years he championed anti-child pornography laws, chairing the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, pushing through legislation to change federal sex offender laws and introducing bills to outlaw websites that showcased sexual images of pre-teens. Ironically Foley resigned from the House on September 29th, 2006 facing a scandal involving sexual misconduct towards minors.
Early in September, several political blogs published e-mails and instant message conversations between Foley and congressional pages, high school students who work as messengers for congressman. The pages at the time were all underage, and the messages contained implicit and explicit sexual content. When ABC news broke the story nationally Foley resigned. He entered rehabilitation for alcoholism, admitted through his lawyer that he was gay and even that a clergyman molested him when he was younger. Also, he claims he has never had sexual conduct with a minor and that the online conversations occurred when he was drunk. Foley's story, on a personal level, is a fascinating one and it remains to be seen what will happen to him.
However, the real story behind this scandal involves the ex-congressman only indirectly. It is important to remember that midterm elections are rapidly approaching, and the tide appears to be turning against Republicans, who could lose their twelve-year run as majority in the House. How convenient then that this scandal should break in the last few weeks before elections, thereby fostering anti-Republican sentiment. Part of this backlash stems not only from Foley's conduct, but the GOP's perceived handling of the issue.
According to some sources, many people in congress were apparently aware of Foley's inappropriate contact with young male pages. Former pages recall being warned to stay away from Foley. More importantly, it appears that House majority speaker J. Dennis Hastert was informed about Foley's sexual correspondence with pages in 2003 through his then chief of staff Scott B. Palmer. Foley's former chief of staff Kirk Fordham claims to have told the latter about concerns regarding Foley conduct towards pages and was then informed that the speaker had taken care of it.
Early in September, several political blogs published e-mails and instant message conversations between Foley and congressional pages, high school students who work as messengers for congressman. The pages at the time were all underage, and the messages contained implicit and explicit sexual content. When ABC news broke the story nationally Foley resigned. He entered rehabilitation for alcoholism, admitted through his lawyer that he was gay and even that a clergyman molested him when he was younger. Also, he claims he has never had sexual conduct with a minor and that the online conversations occurred when he was drunk. Foley's story, on a personal level, is a fascinating one and it remains to be seen what will happen to him.
However, the real story behind this scandal involves the ex-congressman only indirectly. It is important to remember that midterm elections are rapidly approaching, and the tide appears to be turning against Republicans, who could lose their twelve-year run as majority in the House. How convenient then that this scandal should break in the last few weeks before elections, thereby fostering anti-Republican sentiment. Part of this backlash stems not only from Foley's conduct, but the GOP's perceived handling of the issue.
According to some sources, many people in congress were apparently aware of Foley's inappropriate contact with young male pages. Former pages recall being warned to stay away from Foley. More importantly, it appears that House majority speaker J. Dennis Hastert was informed about Foley's sexual correspondence with pages in 2003 through his then chief of staff Scott B. Palmer. Foley's former chief of staff Kirk Fordham claims to have told the latter about concerns regarding Foley conduct towards pages and was then informed that the speaker had taken care of it.
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