The Abramhoff scandal scorched and damaged many Congresspeople's careers to the point where a few (most notably Ken DeLay) were dethroned. But all of those financial shenanigans are nothing compared to the latest tempest in a teapot which occurred when Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) abruptly resigned from office on Friday due to some improprieties involving a former 16-year-old Congressional page from LA.
Foley's resignation and copies of the emails that were sent between the Congressman and the page were bad enough, but now comes the revelation that Rep. Dennis Hastert, the House Speaker, and other top Republican members in Congress where also aware of the illicit emails and IMs but chose not to disclose the matter publicly. Only when two other senior Republican Congressmen corroborated the same information did the House Speaker finally concede that he had could not remember being told about the impending scandal last year.
You want to know what the most horrible irony of the whole sad story is? Ex-Congressman Foley was co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children
Just goes to show that there are child predators lurking almost everywhere you turn...
Miulang
Foley's resignation and copies of the emails that were sent between the Congressman and the page were bad enough, but now comes the revelation that Rep. Dennis Hastert, the House Speaker, and other top Republican members in Congress where also aware of the illicit emails and IMs but chose not to disclose the matter publicly. Only when two other senior Republican Congressmen corroborated the same information did the House Speaker finally concede that he had could not remember being told about the impending scandal last year.
GOP leaders have said they referred the matter promptly to Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), who heads a three-lawmaker panel that oversees the House page program.
Shimkus questioned Foley, but at that time, he had seen only suspiciously friendly e-mails, not the explicit instant messages revealed recently. In one e-mail to the former page, for example, Foley asked for a picture of him. The boy reportedly told an associate that he considered the request to be "sick," but Foley convinced Shimkus that the exchanges were innocent, Shimkus and Republican leaders said.
Republicans appeared to have kept the matter under wraps. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (Mich.), the only Democrat on the House Page Board, said yesterday: "I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House page, and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter."
Shimkus questioned Foley, but at that time, he had seen only suspiciously friendly e-mails, not the explicit instant messages revealed recently. In one e-mail to the former page, for example, Foley asked for a picture of him. The boy reportedly told an associate that he considered the request to be "sick," but Foley convinced Shimkus that the exchanges were innocent, Shimkus and Republican leaders said.
Republicans appeared to have kept the matter under wraps. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (Mich.), the only Democrat on the House Page Board, said yesterday: "I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House page, and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter."
Just goes to show that there are child predators lurking almost everywhere you turn...
Miulang
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