"By all accounts the emails between Foley and the page were fairly innocuous, asking questions about vacations, how ya doin', etc. The IMs were sexual in nature and are from three years ago."
When a 50yo gay man (and, by the way, everybody on Capitol Hill knew Foley was gay) starts sending emails to 16yo boys asking for pictures, it's time to ask some serious questions. The emails were very odd.
This ol'boy knew the play to make, and how to make it, once he'd targeted a prospect. Having seen these jerks do their thing over the years, I've noticed their first "move" is something that is not clearly a solicitation ~ after all, they don't want someone going to cops about being bothered by a homo eh!
The page was from Louisiana. The emails started out asking about Hurricane Katrina, how was he, was his home destroyed, etc. and morphed into questions about vacation, fishing, etc. later. When the GOP leadership found out about them (the emails) they told Foley that they were inappropriate and he said he would cease communications. Obviously if the Instant Messages are older than one year old then that is before Hurricane Katrina and changes things considerable. But that doesn't mean the GOP leadership took steps to cover this up. And if fact doesn't confirm that they knew anything else than what they've already admitted to knowing.