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."
Washington D.C. Age of Consent = 16
http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/dc/dcdocuments04.htm
[snip]
Section 30-103 of the D. C. Code defines the Age of Consent as 16. While that Section then goes on to apply that definition to marriage, the definition is clearly a more general one.
That Section was enacted in 1901. Thus this is deeply embedded in Washington law, having been in effect for almost a century, and possibly reflecting older District law. It is nothing new or recent.
The age of 16 is woven as a thread which pervades the entire body of D. C. law relating to sexual offenses of various kinds. For examp1es (there are others):
As indicated above, the current Sodomy law, which this Bill amends, draws a clear line at age 16.
Section 22-3501 creates a number of sexual offenses when one of the participants is below age 16, which are not offenses if involving only persons over 16.
Section 22-1112b creates a much heightened offense if certain things a sexual nature are said or done in the presence of persons below the age 16.
Section 22-2801- Rape effectively sets the defining age for so-called "statutory rape" in the District as 16.
Sections 22-2011(2), 2012(1) and (2), and 22014(a), dea1ing with "Sexua1 Performances", permit such performances by persons 16 and older.
Section 22-2704, dea1ing with certain prostitution-related offenses, incorporates an age of 16.
[snip] http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/dc/dcdocuments04.htm
Nothing can justify Foley's behavior, but what about Barney Frank...wasn't he literaly pimping young men from his DC apartment?
He's looking for virgins, heh?
The worst part of this whole deal was that the House leadership fumbled the ball. Inexcusable. They knew about this for a long, long time and swept it under the rug. And it will probably give us "Speaker Pelosi."
Why did this kid keep up the correspondence? He must have been having a good laugh.
Anyone with mildly functioning gaydar would suspect that Foley is gay. It sounds like the pages discussed it. This particular page handed Foley at note when he left. I think that's kind of weird unless you go around to every office and hand each congressman a note. Maybe it started as a lark to see if Foley would take the bait. Well, he did, but I don't think that makes him a pedophile. After all, Foley had a pretty good example of the fact that the Congress doesn't take this sort of thing too seriously in the way Gerry Studds was allowed to have sex with a page and then retire in his own good time.
You can bet that somewhere inside the beltway this morning, more than one male liberal Democrat lawmaker is watching TV while lying in bed with his 16 year old male lover and saying, "Super! We're going to win another seat in Congress!"
Thanks. You're right, vague and seems to apply to marriage.
Foley's taste for young men seems similar to the blond school teacher who got probation. Should we expect posters who thought her dalliances were ok to sanction his? /s
Uh the GOP didn't sweep this under the rug. The first inkling of foley's letchery was when a parent complained about foley's non-sexual but inappropriate e-mails. The parents wanted the e-mails to stop and no further investigation.
When the sexually explicit IM's became public(last Friday) foley was booted outof Congress.
But nice try and I'm sure nancy pelosi will be sending you a thank you card for your trouble.
From a biological point of view a person is no longer a "child" when he/she is able to have children of their own. Fourteen is a reasonable cut off age. In the 19th Century, men went to work and women got married at 14. Adolescence is a modern invention of the pampered middle class. As for sexual maturity, that is as much a moral as a psychological thing.
That is exactly why Foley bugged out of DC as fast as he did ... to get home and discard all of his computer equipment and clean the place up from porn. Before the feds could get to it.
You have bought into the media's scheme to protect homosexuals.According to the media the offending priests were pedophiles.The word homosexual usually was very conveniently left out of the story.
If the republicans in congress knew about Foley so did the democrats. This is equal opportunity information. Let's call for an investigation to confirm EVERYONE that knew of Foley's 'interests.'
Some Congressmen like to go to bed and curl up with a good book, while others ...
"You can bet that somewhere inside the beltway this morning, more than one male liberal Democrat lawmaker is watching TV while lying in bed with his 16 year old male lover and saying,"
Wait a minute, its not wrong if the democrats do it.
Recall Clinton, Franks and many more.
Maybe we will see some fall out from this, just maybe some of the boys will talk about the others that I believe are out there.
So what is Rahm saying, that the Republicans should have thought the worse because Foley is gay? Is he implying that absent any complaints that the Republicans should have taken it upon themselves to conduct a full investigation because of his sexual preference?
The Democrats make me sick. Beneath these so called champions of civil rights and equality is complete contempt for the groups they claim to represent.
Don't even try to lecture me.
I have bought into NOTHING spewed by MSM.
Many homosexuals like teenage boys.
Get over yourself.
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