Posted on 10/01/2006 7:45:10 AM PDT by Dane
Former page: We knew about Foley 'for years' By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER AND AMIE PARNES Scripps Howard News Service October 1, 2006 WASHINGTON — Sexually explicit messages from former Rep. Mark Foley to one former congressional page might be just the tip of the iceberg, the leader of an alumni association for former congressional pages told Scripps Howard News Service on Saturday.
While Foley resigned this week after published reports of "friendly" e-mails to one 16-year-old male page and the pending broadcast of more sexually explicit instant messages, similar graphic messages from him were received by at least three other teenage boys who once worked in the page program, said Matthew Loraditch, a Maryland college senior who runs the U.S. House Page Alumni Association's Internet message board.
Advertisement "I've known about them (messages) for several years now," he said Saturday.
"It was more like, 'Hey, look at this,' " said Loraditch, 21, who served in the page program in the 2001-02 session. "I don't think the people in question felt that uncomfortable. It was more, 'Ooh, look at that creepy guy.'
"It was definitely crossing-the-line stuff. The instant message stuff, and stuff I've seen and heard about, definitely couldn't be misconstrued" as merely "friendly" or innocent, Loraditch said.
Loraditch said during his time on Capitol Hill, Foley was one of the members of Congress who expressed what appeared to be a sincere interest in the young pages, often visiting the areas where they congregate in the corner of the House of Representatives chamber to chat or offer stories and advice.
Loraditch said he and other pages viewed Foley as gregarious and "flaky" at the time, and that he offered several of them, not including Loraditch, his personal e-mail when they were graduating from the program and saying goodbyes.
After Loraditch returned to Maryland and began attending college at Towson University, several male former pages told him they had received Internet messages that were similar to the graphic messages first reported by ABC News last week.
"At the age we were when those things happened, 16 or 17, when you see that kind of stuff, most people our ages know what's going on and know what's happening," Loraditch said. "You're not like a little kid who can be roped into that."
Loraditch said his friends all thought the messages were disturbing, but they did not report them, either because they did not think the messages posed a serious threat or because they might have worried about career consequences.
He added all his friends received the questionable messages only after they had graduated and left the program, when, theoretically, that would not raise the same in-house sexual harassment issues as if they had been sent when the former pages still worked for Congress.
"This all happened after we were outside the protective umbrella of all our supervisors, not when we were there," Loraditch said. "To me, that indicates some sort of thought process going on in Foley's mind."
The case has prompted many congressional leaders to talk about stepped-up vigilance to protect the young men and women who serve as congressional pages, who get an up-close look at Congress while doing messenger-like duties for lawmakers.
Loraditch is a big backer of the program for its one-of-a-kind educational benefits, and he believes none of the supervisors who run the program were aware of any inappropriate messages at the time.
"The supervisors I worked with, if any of them had been told, it would have been dealt with at the time promptly," he said. "All of our supervisors were great people. They love pages. Half of them were former pages, and they've got kids of their own. If they had known about it, it would have been dealt with."
In the wake of the Foley scandal, many pages worry the program could be altered drastically or eliminated in an overreaction intended to protect teenagers.
"The page program is a good program. I firmly believe that the program could not have done anything more to protect the pages," Loraditch said. "It all happened after we left and had done our service."
".. Or maybe they knew about it for a long time and saved it up for the election" ~ virgil
Read this and follow the links in the article: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1711613/posts?page=193#193
Reporter's Notebook: Sexuality and Secrecy [gay reporter's take on Foley]--"Ten years ago, I outed Foley as a gay man for The Advocate..."
Thank you for solving the mystery. I get it now, and sometimes I comment just to see a thread reappear. THANKS!
So, you want the guy kicked out based on rumor? Some American you are!
Yep. The same people who vilify the Boy Scouts of America when that organization won't allow gay Scoutmasters.
Since the Dems have politicized it- how long did they know? I'm sure they knew. It had been reported years ago he was gay, and pages now say they knew? I find it hard to believe Dems did not know. Now, today, Dems call for hearings and want Rep leaders questioned under oath. If the Dems knew too (about the emails etc) then they should be questioned too.
This has happened so quickly, I don't know all the facts regarding who knew PRECISELY what and when. It was common assumed knowledge he was gay. Was it known by EITHER Rep or DEM leadership that he was sending explicit emails/IMs to pages or former pages? EVEN if it is lawful to do such with a 16 year old, a Congressman should not. It is creepy and unethical, to say the least. I sure hope the Reps have done the right thing, politics be damned. It is not at all clear if the House leaders knew about the extremely graphic messages, or it they did, when. I also wonder about who released them and why. If they are disturbing to Dems and the media, why did they sit on them? If they thought illegal activity was going on (and that is entirely unclear, IMO), they should have reported it. I hope the truth comes out.
Because it was not election time yet! How better to swing an election than to expose a republican to potential sexual activities? BTW, did Bill Clinton rape that woman Juanita Broadderick? He never did answer that question? He was too busy doing the people's business! Now that he has a lot of time on his hands, I would expect some reporter (hopefully Chris Wallace) to ask that question! Also, I would expect a response from Slick's (so called) wife too!!!!!!
As soon as the sexually explicit IM's were released, foley was booted, unlike barney frank or gerry studds, both democrats.
It seems as though they knew about the e-mails clear back in 2001. Hastert has turned this over to the FBI. Someone dropped the ball, and hopefully, Foley is going to go to prison. We'll just have to wait to see if the FBI brings charges against anyone else. No matter what the outcome is, it's the worst thing that could happen to the GOP right before the election.
Evidence please.
What are you doing asking for evidence of all things?
I forgot, nra knows this from the Vulcan mind meld he does seeing Denny Hastert's picture and has declared guilty.
But we don't know yet what Foley has done! We don't know who the page was and what his proclivities were? Maybe he approached Foley suspecting that he was a swinger? We need to know who this kid is and what his lifestyle is like before we can make judgment as to what happened here. Too many unanswered questions to declare this 'sick' on Foley's part! And I would expect that Foley would answer some of those questions to the American people! Any decent ex-congressman would do that even if he has an alternate lifestyle that would make Jocelyn Elder smile!
Please keep secret that Pelosi wants Hastert's job.
Your post #52 was a great one. The idea that there would be any similarity in those situations should have the democrats and the media sweating bullets.
No, I just think that a "President Pelosi" is a very bad idea. She may be just one heart beat away from the presidency if this plays out the wrong way.
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