Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- The House ethics committee has been working hard to determine if Republicans covered up ex-Rep. Mark Foley's come-ons to former male pages, but even 12-hour work days won't bring conclusions by Election Day. The lack of a report leaves voters to sort through conflicting Republican accounts in deciding whether GOP leaders failed to protect teenagers in their care. Foley became overly friendly with male pages when they served as errand-runners for lawmakers and — after they left Congress — sent some of them inappropriate e-mails and lurid instant messages. It won't be easy for voters to find answers...

West Palm Beach, Fla. -- Former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned over sexually explicit messages sent to male congressional pages, is remaining in treatment for alcoholism beyond his initial 30-day stay, his attorney said Wednesday. Foley checked into a 30-day treatment program at the Sierra Tucson center in Catalina, Ariz., near Tucson, on Oct. 1. There was no immediate indication how much longer Foley would remain there. "I can't say any information other than he's still there," attorney Gerald Richman told The Associated Press. The Florida Republican resigned from Congress in September after he was confronted with the explicit computer...

THE HOUSE ETHICS Committee typically takes its time -- and then some -- when investigating accusations of ethical lapses among its members. Its work is usually conducted in deep secrecy. Often the public doesn't even know when an investigation is underway, or even who is being called to testify before the committee. The sleepy pace of these investigations reflects Congress' entrenched timidity in taking on its own members. The pace becomes even more glacial when the party that is in the majority has to investigate one its own. That's what makes the investigation into the Mark Foley e-mail scandal so...

SAN FRANCISCANS may think of their town as a haven for tolerance, but once again, S.F. supervisors are showing the rest of America how intolerant The Special City can be. Forget a flower in your hair. If you come to San Francisco, be sure to wear a muzzle on your brain. Criticize a supervisor, and some supes will do their utmost to get you fired. Last week, KGO radio talk-show host Pete Wilson made some comments about a child born to Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is gay, and Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian. As Wilson put it, a baby...

So Bevan Dufty, who is gay and a San Francisco supervisor, is sharing a house with a woman named Rebecca Goldfader, and together they are raising a child named Sidney. For some reason, this situation enraged normally sensible radio talk show host Pete Wilson, who called it an "experiment," partly because Dufty and Goldfader are not in a romantic relationship. Here's the breaking-news non-flash: It's all an experiment. Every adventure in parenting is trial and error, generally performed by people totally unqualified for the task. I think of myself at 23, which is how old I was when my first...

Well, it looks like the San Francisco Thought Police is up to its old tricks again. Demonstrating the sort of Stalinist tendencies for which the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has become infamous, supervisors Tom Ammiano, Aaron Peskin, Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi are demanding the resignation of KGO talk show host Pete Wilson. Gay assemblyman extrordinaire Mark Leno has chimed in for good measure. It seems self-described "moderate" Pete Wilson (who's really a conservative and just doesn't know it yet) committed the cardinal sin for San Francisco. He dared to question the local liberal gay (LGBTQWERSIPOKJ...) community. Wilson was...

Pete Wilson angered many by criticizing alternative families - Television news anchor Pete Wilson will not lose his job over comments he made during a radio broadcast criticizing nontraditional families. Kevin Keeshan, news director of ABC 7, spoke with Wilson about the controversy Wednesday and Wilson apologized for his "inappropriate comments," Keeshan said. "Beyond that, nothing is going to change. In the five years of working with Pete Wilson as a news anchor who also does a talk show, we've never experienced anything like this. It's highly unusual and highly out of character for Pete and, by his own admission,...

Eye of a storm: Even in the tolerant Bay Area, nontraditional parenting can cause a stir. KGO's Pete Wilson feels the heat after criticizing a gay-lesbian couple for having a child together. Longtime Bay Area television news anchorman Pete Wilson has found himself in the headlines this week after criticizing a San Francisco city official for joining a phenomenon flourishing in the region: the nontraditional family. Controversy over Wilson's on-air comments about Supervisor Bevan Dufty and his newborn daughter shot to the highest reaches of city government as Mayor Gavin Newsom weighed in and several members of the Board...

San Francisco public officials and leaders of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community are demanding that a prominent radio host and television news anchor apologize for comments he made on the air about nontraditional families. Pete Wilson, the anchor of ABC's local evening news and host of a radio show on KGO 810 AM, criticized Supervisor Bevan Dufty and his friend Rebecca Goldfader, who are sharing a home and co-parenting a newborn, during a radio broadcast Tuesday. Their daughter, Sydney, was born last week. Wilson, who said he supports same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay couples raising children, referred...

WILLIAM Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. After his mother remarried, he took the family surname, Clinton. Clinton was a good student. He enjoyed playing the saxophone and even considered a professional musical career. While in high school, a fortuitous meeting with President John Kennedy led him to choose a life of public service.