Sept. 29, 2006
 
Rep. Foley Resigns Over E-mails to Boy
 
By Amie Parnes
Scripps Howard News Service
 
Washington (SHNS) -- Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned Friday a day after coming under fire for sending friendly e-mails to a 16-year-old boy who once worked as a Capitol Hill page.
 
"I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent," Foley said in a statement issued by his office.
 
Foley, 52, a six-term congressman, said his resignation was effective immediately.
 
ABC News first reported Thursday that Foley sent a string of e-mails from his personal AOL account to the unidentified boy _ including questions about his age and what he wanted for his birthday. Foley had said there was nothing inappropriate in the messages, which included a request for a photo.
 
Foley's resignation shook up November's national elections, when Democrats are trying to win 15 seats to regain a majority in the House of Representatives. Foley had been expected to coast to re-election.
 
Before Foley's resigned, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to the House ethics committee also asking for an investigation into Foley's correspondence with the boy.
 
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said, "The House of Representatives has the responsibility to protect teenagers who come to Congress to learn about the legislative process. The ethics committee has a moral obligation to investigate any allegation that a page has been subjected to sexual advances by a member of Congress and, should the allegations prove true, take swift action to punish the offender."
 
"The ethics committee should determine whether Rep. Foley's e-mails to the former page were improper," Sloan said.
 
CREW said it was basing its call for an investigation on past House actions against congressmen. In 1983, the House censured two members of Congress _ Reps. Dan Crane, R-Ill., and Gerry Studds, D-Mass. _ for having sexual relationships with pages. In 1990, the ethics committee publicly disapproved of the conduct of Rep. Gus Savage, D-Ill., who had made sexual advances to a Peace Corps volunteer. In all three cases, the ethics committee relied on the House rule prohibiting conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House, CREW said.
 
On Thursday, Foley spokesman Jason Kello said the e-mail exchange between Foley and the congressional page was "purely innocent" and called it "a smear campaign" by Foley's opponent in November's election, Democratic businessman Tim Mahoney.
 
"It's character assassination," Kello said. "The e-mails in question were a response to a handwritten thank-you letter from a former page.
 
"There have not been any allegations made by anyone except Tim Mahoney and the Democrats who are attempting to misrepresent a series of innocent communications to prop up a falling political campaign," Kello added.
 
Mahoney had also called for an investigation into Foley's e-mails. In a statement, Mahoney's campaign said, "the seriousness of these allegations goes far beyond the tit for tat of a political campaign."
 
"Tim Mahoney does not believe Congressman Foley's sexual orientation, whatever it may be, should be an issue in this campaign," said Jessica Santillo, a spokesman for the Mahoney campaign. "However, the serious nature of the allegations in question should be reviewed by the appropriate authorities."
 
The e-mails began after the 16-year-old had completed the congressional page program in Washington and had returned to his hometown, Kello said.
 
Before leaving Washington, the page gave Foley a handwritten thank-you note that included his e-mail address, Kello said. Several weeks later, Foley e-mailed the former page and began the month-long exchange, Kello said.
 
"Glad your (sic) home safe and sound," Foley wrote in one e-mail. "We don't go back into session until Sept 5...so it's a nice long break...I am back in Florida now...it's nice here...been raining today...it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks...how old are you now?" In another e-mail, Foley wrote: "well do miss DC...It's raining here but 68 degrees so who can argue...did you have fun at your conference...what do you want for your birthday coming up...what stuff do you like to do."
 
I In a third e-mail, Foley wrote: "how are you weathering the hurricane...are you safe...send me an email pic of you as well..."
 
Kello said the congressman keeps resumes and pictures of people who want letters of recommendation or future jobs. But Kello acknowledged that the teenager hadn't interest in a job in Foley's office.
 
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)