Posted on 10/03/2006 2:22:38 PM PDT by kristinn
(CBS4 News) MIAMI Mark Foles attorney, David Roth attests that Foley is not a pedophile and "never ever" had sexual contact with minors.
Instead, Roth, a prominent criminal defense attorney with offices in West Palm Beach, portrayed the 52-year-old Foley as a troubled alcoholic who has suffered from mental illness much of his adult life. "Mark is an alcoholic. He drank in secret. He did not drink in public," Roth said. "He had two lives with regard to his alcohol consumption. In public, and in public service, he was sober. When he was alone, he was not sober. He is an acknowledged alcoholic."
Foley is now in treatment for alcoholism and mental illness at an undisclosed center, where he is expected to remain for at least 30 days, Roth said. Roth said he was contacted by Foley on Friday, minutes after the Fort Pierce Republican resigned from Congress after being confronted with sexually explicit Internet messages he exchanged with a teenage boy.
When asked whether or not Foley had sexual contact with the minors he was conversing with, Roth said, "Based on all the information that I have, Mark Foley has never ever had an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life."
Roth described the former Congressman as "contrite, remorseful and devastated by the harm that his actions have caused.... He blames no one but himself."
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other leaders were moving quickly and vigorously to distance themselves from Foley. Hastert said Monday that House Republican leaders were unaware of the "vile and repulsive" sexually explicit messages Foley had sent to a former page.
"Congressman Foley duped a lot of people," Hastert said at a news conference. "He deceived the good men and women in organizations around this country with whom he worked to strengthen our child predator laws. I have known him for all the years he served in this House. He deceived me, too."
Foley's name was removed from the wall outside his office early Monday. Later in the morning, a congressional employee posted a new sign reading, "Office of the 16th Congressional District of Florida."
His staff now works for the House clerk's office, which also took over his congressional Web site. The staff was warned early Monday not to talk to the media, one staffer said.
Foley's name will remain on the ballot.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a radio interview with Sean Hannity that Negron is virtually doomed because "to vote for this candidate, you have to vote for Mark Foley. How many people are going to hold their nose to do that?"
The GOP leaders' handling of the matter prompted criticism even from some Republicans who said they should have acted more forcefully.
"If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they should not serve in leadership," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
Republican leaders are concerned the aftermath of Foley's exit could hurt other GOP candidates in November.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said there is "a real chance" the episode could threaten the GOP's majority status.
"I think the next 48 hours are critical in how this is handled," he said. "When a party holds itself out as the guardian of values, this is not helpful."
Democrats were quick to accuse Republicans of not doing enough to protect the congressional pages who live in dorms near the Capitol.
"Republican leaders admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley's abhorrent behavior for six months to a year and failed to protect the children in their trust," said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Republican leaders must be investigated by the ethics committee and immediately questioned under oath."
The White House was even brought into the firestorm. Spokesman Tony Snow attempted to deflect the political repercussions. "The House has to clean up the mess, to the extent there is a mess," he said. "This does not affect every Republican in the United States of America, just as bad behavior on Democrats' part is not a reflection on the entire party."
The Justice Department sent Hastert a brief letter that said the FBI was "conducting a preliminary investigation into this matter and will work closely with the department's prosecutors to determine whether any violations of federal law have occurred." The Washington Post reported that a former chief of staff for Foley made one last effort to keep the most damaging messages from going public.
According to media reporter Howard Kurtz, the unnamed chief of staff contacted ABC's Brian Ross, offering to give the network an exclusive about Foley's resignation if Ross agreed "not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages." Foley resigned after ABC confronted him with those messages.
"Congressman Foley duped a lot of people," Hastert said at a news conference. "He deceived the good men and women in organizations around this country with whom he worked to strengthen our child predator laws. I have known him for all the years he served in this House. He deceived me, too."
Hastert: "And once I found out about the inappropriate behavior, I said, "Stop it." And he agreed.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh Denny....
I feel sorry for Foley in one regard. He has a lawyer who is using the "alchoholic" defense. He didn't get the memo, that defense only works if your name is Kennedy.
Oh tulsa ramjet.
that defense only works if your name is Kennedy.
yeah. and the name of that real big fat guy in the senate...wait, HIS name is kennedy too.
Actually he is a pedophile, since a pedophile is a person sexually aroused by children. He is not a pederast, who actually engages in sex with children.
"Oh tulsa ramjet."
The trouble with today, is no one is willing to say, "You know, we screwed up, and this is what we are going to do about it."
Its all about posturing and control.
He has Gibson syndrome.
What "mental illness" would it be, exactly?
Speculation and guesses encouraged.
Uh tulsa ramjet, you do know that mark foley has been booted while pimp house barney frank holds power and prestige in the democrat party.
Please explain exactly how did WE screw UP????
Wonder if it the same David Roth that is counsel at CREW?
???? LOL
From: http://www.citizensforethics.org/about/whoweare.php
Dan Roth, Counsel
"Dan Roth joined CREW as Counsel and assists in all aspects of CREW's litigation practice. He previously served as the Dorot Judicial Selection Fellow at the Alliance for Justice (AFJ), a nonprofit, national association of public interest groups that work to advance the cause of justice for all citizens. There he researched and drafted reports on the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court and on a slate of other nominees to the federal bench. He also co-developed and co-hosted the "Supreme Court Watch" podcast for AFJ, building a base of regular listeners throughout the country. During law school, Mr. Roth served as chapter president of the American Constitution Society and vice president of the school's Public Interest Law Foundation. He co-founded the Coalition for Equality, a campus organization dedicated to the full enforcement of the law school’s non-discrimination policy and was the 2004 recipient of both the Susan Grant DesMarais Award for Public Interest Leadership and the Service and the Drinan Fund Award, a public service scholarship. Mr. Roth, who first worked in Washington, D.C. as a John Glenn Fellow, received his B.A. summa cum laude from Ohio State University and his J.D. from Boston College Law School."
(I saw this early today doing 'research' on their site)
Is it deviant behavior, perhaps?
"while pimp house barney frank holds power and prestige in the democrat party."
I know, and that is indicative of their party. Foley's behavior should have been fully investigated earlier and crushed. I have a problem with congressmen screwing around with underage, tax-payer funded help. Pages are not their was fruit to be picked. And those freaks in florida kept sending him back.
Uh the point is that foley has been booted but barney frank still remains. That's a big point you seem to want to run around.
"Please explain exactly how did WE screw UP????"
I meant reynolds and hastert.
"Uh the point is that foley has been booted"
he resigned.
He is not a pedophile, because those were not "children", but teenage boys.
He is a faggot.
Sure I am repulsed by the actions of one guy acting on his own but as a result should I suddenly support a party whose titular leader is known for shoving cigars into interns orifices in the Oval office, whose leadership in the Senate consists of a drunk who drives his concubine to her death in a drunken crash, whose Constitutional scholar is a fomer Grand Kleagle of the KKK, whose recent Presidential nominee is a lying traitor who sold out his troops to gain a political career, whose former Presidential office holder travels around the world embracing every 3rd world tin horn communist dictator while trashing the sitting President of the United States, whose congressional leaders run prostitution rings out of their house, mock our troops, call for surrender to the islamofascits, accept bribe money from African nations, sell our technology secrets........etc, etc!
AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN
Why are you so scared of the facts.
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