Posted on 09/30/2006 3:06:00 PM PDT by wjersey
Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said he told Speaker Dennis Hastert after learning a fellow GOP lawmaker sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy.
Reynolds, R-N.Y., was told months ago about e-mails sent by Rep. Mark Foley and is now defending himself from Democratic accusations that he did too little. Foley, R-Fla., resigned Friday after ABC News questioned him about the e-mails to a former congressional page and about sexually suggestive instant messages to other pages. The boy who received the e-mails was 16 in summer 2005 when he worked in Congress as a page. After the boy returned to his Louisiana home, the congressman e-mailed him, and the teenager thought the messages were inappropriate, particularly one in which Foley asked the teen to send a picture of himself.
The teen's family contacted their congressman, Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who then discussed it with Reynolds sometime this spring.
"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's," Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a written statement Saturday.
"Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me," Reynolds said.
Reynolds added that Alexander also discussed it with the clerk of the House, and the congressman who oversees the page program, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill.
Shimkus has said he learned about the e-mail exchange in late 2005 and took immediate action to investigate.
Shimkus said Foley told him it was an innocent exchange. Shimkus said he warned Foley not to have any more contact with the teenager and to respect other pages.
Democrats charged Reynolds did far too little and said more digging should be done.
"Congressman Reynolds' inaction in the face of such a serious situation is very troubling, and raises important questions about whether there was an attempt to cover up criminal activity involving a minor to keep it from coming to light before election day," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney.
New York Democrats hoping to unseat Reynolds blasted the congressman, saying they call into question the Republican's values.
"Mr. Reynolds knew about these allegedly inappropriate emails from a fellow congressman to a minor for months and didn't lift a finger," said Blake Zeff, a spokesman for the state Democrats.
"As a "lawdude" you ought to know there are age requirements as to where the crime was committed to be met first. And the charging of such is up the prosecutorial agency in Wash DC or whereever the crime took place and then a judge has to agree."
I understand that but I don't believe many states have an AoC of 16 for homosexual sex. I may be wrong but I still think he should be on the sex offender list. And where was the law broken? DC or the state where the email was sent? (Louisiana IIRC)
"I am actually proud of the "double standard." Wish it weren't so, but glad to be on the side of right."
Exactly. But don't think about it as a double standard. Think of it as an issue of ethics and the existence of moral reasoning. Others choose to operate without the simple acceptance that good is constant.
I believe Foley had been tagged as gay from stuff I don't remember where I read it on the net.
I'm not as surprised as others about this because he was definitely on my "Gaydar" screen.
The Dems and or the media were digging for some dirt and they found it.
That could be the problem because the details weren't available but the "gay" chatter was. What if they had conducted an investigation into a "gay man's personal life?"
The libs could accused the GOP of "gay bashing" and it took the media confronting Foley to force resignation.
Whatever happened to sex doesn't matter? Isn't this private as well? Or, does that only apply to scumbag Democrat Presidents that seduce interns?
Foley deserves whatever he gets and his resignation is proper. If laws were broke, prosecution is in order.
Feigned outrage by Democrats that defended Bill Clinton's tryst with monica Lewinsky, which wasn't by internet, have no business now calling for investigations or expressing outrage.
You write above:
"What to do with emails like Foley's when they are written by someone you are responsible for is unclear."
"It sounds like Hastert a) delegated responsibility, b) didn't ask too many questions, and c) was glad that the whole thing went away."
"Most of us would have been no different."
I hope and pray that no one whose attitude is to avoid asking "too many questions" and to be "glad that the whole thing went away" is ever responsible for investigating anything to do with child molestation. Heaven forbid that that should be the reaction to something involving anyone's child -- especially my own!
Let's not be apologists for gladhanding politicians who are content to let evil occur so long as it "goes away" before an election. And let's hope that Hastert and anyone else who let this "go away" and didn't ask "too many questions" get what they richly deserve.
Still, we should not cover up for Barney if, in fact, he is engaged with a child simply because we don't look like we are doing so for reasons of political retaliation.
My comments were about the emails that were brought to Hastert's attention last year, not about the instant messages.
Read the emails and tell us what you would have done.
I agree with you. My suggestion was in jest but can you imagine the reaction if Foley had just announced that he was switching to the Democrat party?
What would be the charge for asking for someone to send you a picture?? DEATH??? 20 Years??
BTTT
He should be on the sex offender list, for what? I've been reading this thread in total disgust, because I can't believe how easy it is to throw a bit of dirt to generate a massive response full of salacious comments and accusations from the misinformed, who enjoys all kinds of speculations based on a lot of dirt and a bit of information. They start with false accusations and keep adding lies to the point that it becomes a “fact.”
FACT: There was no sex between Foley and the young man. There was no grooming or anything like that. Foley may be gay... I don't know that, but nothing he did to this young man was sexual in nature. There were only emails and nothing else, and the emails are the following:
From the ABC article:
In the series of e-mails, obtained by ABC News, from Rep. Foley (R-FL) to the former page, Foley asks the young man how old he is, what he wants for his birthday and requests a photo of him.The concerned young man alerted congressional staffers to the e-mails. In one e-mail, the former page writes to a staffer, "Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out."
Foley's office acknowledges that Foley wrote the e-mails to the young man but says they were completely innocent and that Foley is at most guilty of being "too friendly and too engaging" with young people.
The e-mails were sent from Foley's personal AOL account, and the exchange began within weeks after the page finished his program on Capitol Hill. In one, Foley writes, "did you have fun at your conference…what do you want for your birthday coming up…what stuff do you like to do."
In another Foley writes, "how are you weathering the hurricane…are you safe…send me an email pic of you as well…"
The young man forwarded that e-mail to a congressional staffer saying it was "sick sick sick sick sick."
Foley's office says it is their policy to keep pictures of former interns and anyone who may ask for a recommendation on file so they can remember them.
The Congressional page program was started in the 1800s. In its current form, juniors from high school work on Capitol Hill after school or over the summer. The young man in question did not work or intern for Foley's office.
Elizabeth Nicolson, Foley's Chief of Staff, said they believe the e-mail exchange began when the page asked Foley for a recommendation and that the subsequent exchange was totally innocent. She said Foley's office believes the e-mails were released by the opposition as part of an "ugly smear campaign."
And if anyone cares to check this out, here is the link.
WOW great post on the subject!
But how about the victims? Certainly we should place our concern about their welfare before our own need for self-esteem. The only way we can show that we are truly outwardly concerned is to investigate Barney and "others".
We don't know if there was any "sex". But Foley resigned!
"Interesting that Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) name hasn't come up in all of this ... wasn't his boyfriend running a guy-for-hire business out of Barney's Washington pad for some period of time? In between serving the needs of Barney."
Yes and despite a lot of defense of Frank here, there were "boys" involved. Frank claimed to have known nothing about it. His hushed up behavior in MA, says otherwise, but then he is a dem
He did, and if he thinks that his resignation will stop the accusations and all the trashing, think again - it won't.
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