Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned yesterday because he sexually propositioned a sixteen year-old congressional page. That's awful enough--well, that and Foley was the Chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, but what's even worse is that the House Republican leadership knew about this for months and did nothing. Well, they did one thing: they warned the pages to stay away from from Foley. In case you're wondering, no Democrat was informed, even those on the relevant committees.
The Party of Values never ceases to amaze me. Yet it gets even more bizarre. Even though Foley has resigned, he is still on the ballot for 2006 (although he can be replaced according to Florida law). This may have cost the Republicans the Congress--Foley's seat was borderline competitive.
Related posts: Chris Bowers and Pam Spaulding have some thoughts on this too.
Update: Apparently, Foley can't be replaced on the ballot. Bad news for Republicans. It will be
interesting to see how many people vote for the scumbag.
- Log in to post comments
Their (Republicans) behavior in just like the Catholic Churches approach to the sexual abuse problems in the preisthood. At least they warned the pages.
I think the election law say's they can't change the ballot after a certain date -they are stuck with his name on the ballot -even though it will now represent a different candidate.
And why wouldn't it be, bigTom? The republican party and the religious right (any any religiously repressed) have been like peas in a pod for decades.
If what Foley did was a crime (and it might, under laws he sponsored), then the cover-up might rise to the level of criminal conspiracy. So far, we know of five Republican congressmen who knew about this and kept it quiet. This cannot be allowed to disappear into a do-nothing ethics committee run by other Republican congressmen. It need to be investigated by law enforcement and the the press.
When rep. Alexander found out that Foley was hitting on one of his pages, his action was to notify the head of the House Republican reelction committee, not the ethics committee. That should tell you all you need to know about the party of values.
Aerik, I don't understand your comment. It seems that most organizations that hit this problem react in a similar manner (sweap under the rug). It is only when it can be suppressed nolonger that they fess up.
Yes, this is another example of Republican Family values. Apparently contradictions in Repuplican leadership response are being exposed, and with the publics attitude toward sexual predators, it could be quite an embarassing episode at just the wrong time (from the Republican perspective).
Not the way I like to win elections, but my fear of the Great Decider is such that I'll take any advantages I can get.