GOP Cover-Up a Real Page Turner

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said he told GOP House Leader Dennis Hastert months ago about concerns Foley sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Reynolds, R-N.Y., is under attack from Democrats who say he did too little to protect the boy.

Hastert covered up that information.

Other Foley Facts:
He had Internet sex with a boy during a House vote. The smutty exchanges took place in 2003 while the Florida Republican was waiting to vote on emergency funding for the Iraq war.
According to ABC News, Foley sent instant messages about orgasms to the boy from the floor of the House. Before signing off to vote, Foley asked his teenage friend, "can I have a good kiss goodnight."


Sheer Foley

President Bush said he was "disgusted" by Foley's behavior...but turned away calls for House Speaker Dennis Hastert's resignation for failing to act on reports that Hastert did nothing when confronted with evidence of Foley's inappropriate text messaging.

ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former pages -- under the age of 18 -- who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

Interesting note -- on Capitol Hill, Foley, who is 52 and single - and co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus - has long been pushing bill against certain images of kids on websites, the Child Modeling Exploitation Prevention Act, or CMEPA. "These websites are nothing more than a fix for pedophiles," Foley said when he introduced the bill in 2002.

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from the Associated Press:

Foley, who represents an area around Palm Beach County, e-mailed the page in August 2005. The page had worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., and Foley asked him how he was doing after Hurricane Katrina and what he wanted for his birthday. The congressman also asked the boy to send a photo of himself, according to excerpts of the e-mails that were originally released by ABC News.

In 2003, Foley faced questions about his sexual orientation as he prepared to run for Sen. Bob Graham's seat. At a news conference in May of that year, he said he would not comment on rumors he was gay. He later decided not to seek the Senate seat to care for his parents.

According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the boy e-mailed a colleague in Alexander's office about Foley's e-mails, saying, ''This freaked me out.'' On the request for a photo, the boy repeated the word ''sick'' 13 times.