HEADS UP! At 3:25 CST, Jamie Colby of Foxnews reported that when Foley's shenanigans with the page first came on the radar screen, THE MATTER WAS ADDRESSED TO THE BOY'S PARENTS, WHO CHOSE NOT PURSUE THE MATTER. It's unclear who Colby got this info from. If anyone else heard the segment, check in ASAP.
The more troubling part, though, is that people in charge of the page program were warning ALL pages to stay away from Foley. And in a case like this, it doesn't matter if the parents don't want to press charges. IF you are in the leadership and you KNOW about activities like Foley's, you quietly tell him to retire or get him out of positions like Co-Chair of the EXPLOITED CHILDREN Committee. I mean that's just stupid to leave him there.
Then the parents should be investigated for pimping out their minor child to a queer. It is stated that "inappropriate contact" occurred. Anyone that dismisses this as politics as usual is a supporter of the sexual abuse of children.
On Yahoooo:
WASHINGTON - Rep. Thomas Reynolds (news, bio, voting record), head of the House Republican election effort, said he told Speaker Dennis Hastert after learning a fellow GOP lawmaker sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy.
Reynolds, R-N.Y., was told months ago about e-mails sent by Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) and is now defending himself from Democratic accusations that he did too little. Foley, R-Fla., resigned Friday after ABC News questioned him about the e-mails to a former congressional page and about sexually suggestive instant messages to other pages.
The boy who received the e-mails was 16 in summer 2005 when he worked in Congress as a page. After the boy returned to his Louisiana home, the congressman e-mailed him, and the teenager thought the messages were inappropriate, particularly one in which Foley asked the teen to send a picture of himself.
The teen's family contacted their congressman, Rep. Rodney Alexander (news, bio, voting record), R-La., who then discussed it with Reynolds sometime this spring.
"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's," Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a written statement Saturday.
"Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me," Reynolds said.
Reynolds added that Alexander also discussed it with the clerk of the House, and the congressman who oversees the page program, Rep. John Shimkus (news, bio, voting record), R-Ill.
Shimkus has said he learned about the e-mail exchange in late 2005 and took immediate action to investigate.
Shimkus said Foley told him it was an innocent exchange. Shimkus said he warned Foley not to have any more contact with the teenager and to respect other pages.
Democrats charged Reynolds did far too little and said more digging should be done.
"Congressman Reynolds' inaction in the face of such a serious situation is very troubling, and raises important questions about whether there was an attempt to cover up criminal activity involving a minor to keep it from coming to light before election day," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney.
New York Democrats hoping to unseat Reynolds blasted the congressman, saying they call into question the Republican's values.
"Mr. Reynolds knew about these allegedly inappropriate emails from a fellow congressman to a minor for months and didn't lift a finger," said Blake Zeff, a spokesman for the state Democrats.
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NRCC: http://www.nrcc.org/
The House leadership could have "asked" Foley to retire with some dignity once they determined that Foley (who they knew was gay) was sending emails to pages that were creeping them out. They didn't.