Posted on 09/28/2006 3:21:37 PM PDT by slowhand520
Sixteen-Year-Old Who Worked as Capitol Hill Page Concerned About E-mail Exchange with Congressman September 28, 2006 3:06 PM
Rhonda Schwartz and Maddy Sauer Report:
A 16-year-old male former congressional page concerned about the appropriateness of an e-mail exchange with a congressman alerted Capitol Hill staffers to the communication.
Congressman Mark Foley's office says the e-mails were entirely appropriate and that their release is part of a smear campaign by his opponent.
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 BLOTTER RECOMMENDS Congressman Ney Pleads Guilty to Accepting Lavish Gifts NY Moneyman Arrested in Teen Sex Scandal Check out the Brian Ross Webcast on Home Page 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."
I guess it's possible that this is innocent and the quotes are merely out of context like the congressman claims. But the fact is, it looks really creepy from the outside and his explaination sounds pretty fishy too. Let's use our heads on this and not laugh in the dark because the guy has an (R) after his name.
Well, I have this from Foley's office...
Foley's office acknowledges that Foley wrote the e-mails to the young man
Thank you Black Guy! If this was Barney Frank, Freepers would be going nuts. This kid DID NOT work for Foley as certain posters assumed. This is clearly creepy and, like I said, if it was a gay Dem, we'd presume that he was a sick perv. That is exactly what Foley appears to be. "Send me an email pic"? I would like to see how many other non-staff he has asked for such a thing. How many young female pages has he requested pictures from? My guess is zero. Pedophile pervert should have his pee-pee cut off!
I am a suspicous person by nature, but see nothing strange about this. It's not as if the congressman was asking to meet up with this kid or anything like that. Asking what he did for his birthday sounds like making small talk like anyone would do.
Lol!!
"Have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
Thank God we have you to tell us who's guilty Mrs Grace.
My only question is, if this was official Congressional business (references from a Page), they why wasn't official congressional email used? Why the personal AOL account?
However, it still does look like an election dirty trick.
-PJ
Bump to *some* of that......LOL.....not the cutting part!
Are you so willing to throw the guy under the bus before everything is known? I'll wait til all the facts come out before I render an opinion.
You are naive. He's a Ped in my book.
He's a pretty conservative guy, but the ground swell for him just was never there.
I have no idea if he's gay or not......just a freeperette reporting the news, rumors, gossip, facts and innuendos directly from the Sunshine State, LOL.
Leni
"Have you ever been in a cockpit son?"
One more time: why wasn't the recommendation handled through his OFFICIAL email and/or office? They have people who handle this stuff 24/7.
With no proof of anything except email small talk. No request to meet up, no request to stop by the office, no specific on the picture.
With all the stuff going on with George Allen and losers coming out of the woodwork claiming he's a racist right before the election I will give Foley the benefit of the doubt until I see something concrete.
-PJ
this article is off a liberal blog spot or something, alternet.....not abc. I believe the kid is from florida and probably did work for foley. I would be as surprised to see foley was a pedophile or gay as i would be Dubya. i'm gonna see if abc says anything, but i'm telling you this is off a far left site.
I don't know that just like you don't know why the kid asked Foley for something and why the kid initiated the conversation. Is it possible that Foley is being sandbagged? Maybe. Could be that he likes younger men. We don't know anything about who this kid is, what his parents are into and who their friends are. I cannot form an opinion on what the newspaper reports for a whole host of reasons.
I've gotten emails from Jindal's staffers from their personal email addresses. I never thought anyhthing of it. A lot of people use web based email to communicate because it can be used anyehere.
That's fine that you do. I don't blame you. The dems are nasty scoundrels willing to do anything to smear the pubbies.
But if he wrote those emails, he's a ped in my book. I can always smell a fish. This one stinks.
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