http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/29/con...ails/index.html

Congressman resigns after former page questions e-mails
From CNN's Dana Bash
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican from Florida, resigned Friday from the House, a day after a former congressional page questioned e-mails Foley had sent to him.

Foley apparently sent the e-mails in August 2005, when the male page was 16 years old.

"Today I have delivered a letter to the speaker of the House informing him of my decision to resign from the U.S. House of Representatives, effective today. I thank the people of Florida's 16th Congressional District for giving me the opportunity to serve them for the last twelve years; it has been an honor," Foley said in a written statement.

"I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."

In the e-mails, which were obtained by the Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Foley discussed a second page, saying "I just emailed [him]... hes such a nice guy... acts much older than his age... hes in great shape... i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey now heading to the gym... whats school like for you this year?"

Foley then asked the page for a picture.

The young man, who forwarded the e-mails to another congressional staffer, called the e-mails "sick, sick, sick."

"Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaks me out," the page wrote in the e-mails obtained by CREW.

A spokesman for Foley told CNN the congressman acknowledged he had an e-mail exchange with the former page but flatly denied that it was anything inappropriate.

Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois said he supported Foley's resignation.

"He's done, as of now; he's done the right thing," Hastert said. "I've asked John Shimkus, who is the head of the Page board, to look into this issue regarding Congressman Foley. We want to make sure that all of our pages are safe, and the page system is safe."

"None of us are very happy about it," Hastert said.

According to GOP sources, Foley is concerned there may be other potential politically damaging e-mails or information out there and has concluded it's best not to run again for office.

Foley, who is considered a moderate, has been in office for six-terms.

His Democratic opponent in the race, Tim Mahoney, called for an investigation into the matter Thursday. Mahoney's campaign denied having anything to do with the information getting out.

Don't they see the hypocracy, the sleaze??!!!!! EWWW!!!!

And, he supposedly chaired the House Committee on Missing and Exploited Children. Incredible.

Hope we get the House seat, BUT this is Florida we are talking about. I'm sure Jeb is on the phone right now with the fixer BKA Baker on how to rig the outcome.

It seems to me that one more in a long line of Rep. scandals can't hurt this close to the election in November.

And the timing of the release of Bob Woodward's new book on Bush at war is terrific. It's getting a lot of exposure, and it's not going to help the Reps. one bit.

I just hope we succeed in taking back at least one house in Congress.

It is unfortunate that this 16 year old boy was exposed to creepy e-mails from that Repug

Hopefully there will be a silver lining to this sordid episode. I can only hope this will help rid this Nation of the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. A position that they have abused to exploit every American who is not a part of their rapacious inner circle of thuggery

Morning talk shows today were suggesting that Hastert and Boehner knew of this for a year and did nothing.

I also heard the other day that there has for some period of time been some sort of caution given to incoming pages to watch out for this guy.

This thing could really snowball.

Apparently pug leadership knew all about it in late 05.Sounds like a COVER UP big time to me. :mad:

Hastert claimed today he just heard of it last week.

This could REALLY snowball.

Particularly with the pugs sanctimonious holier-than-thou attitude, somehow suggestion that god is on their side...

Of course all the scandals in the RC church don't seem to have turned too many people into Baptists...

All I have heard of so far is inappropriate emails and instant messages. Rumor has it that there is something bigger yet to come out, and thats why the quick resignation.

It would be nice if the press, our supposed watchdogs, would pursue this to wherever it takes them. Chances are they'll just get the party line, dutifully print it, say "one bad apple" and move on.

I heard that the parents of one of the boys involved knew about what Foley had been doing and decided not to go any further with it--didn't file charges or take it higher up, in other words. Now those are people who are dedicated to their party. Can you imagine--putting party over your children? Or, did someone put some kind of pressure on them not to take it any further?

You have to wonder. If I were the parent of a child this had happened to, I'd be all over Foley and the rest of them. Are you kidding me? :mad:

Wikipedia on Foley

Foley story in 2003 re being gay

Pelosi wants to know who knew what when

The quotes, while clearly inappropriate and offensive between an adult in a position of power and a 16-year old, don't seem to be as bad as I had imagined - not like Oreilly and his loofa. Of course it depends which rag you read what gets quoted*. The request for picture is downplayed by abc and fox, but the kid wrote "sick" like 12 times in describing it to a friend. So I have to think it was a request for a specific sort of picture. The cover story the guys office put out is that they often request pics of people they are asked to give referrals for. Presuming some more detail about th etrue nature of the request does come out, that bit of "spin" can (should) come back to haunt them as well.

Because ultimately, that illustrates how little we can trust anyone in government when they explain anything - whether the situation in Iraq, or their energy policy (still secret) or just any d*mn thing - they lie, spin, con, and insult the American peopl's intelligence so constantly that I wouldn't believe one of them if he told me the earth is round.

By the way, a few years ago when I was buying my wife a car at a dealership in Naperville, Il. Hastert came in to pick up his car. What a toad! His district borders mine, so I don't get to vote against him, but I DO get to vote for Tammy Duckworth against an equally smarmy weasel running for Henry Hyde's vacated seat.


*edit: just read some really seamy stuff. funny that most of the rags opted to omit it.

Looks like now the FBI is getting involved in this. :read: