The Blue State

Foley computer files set off legal dispute

  Even when we thought the misery had ended last November, we still are not done with the 109th Congress just yet.  Florida officials are waging a legal battle with Congressional lawyers in hope of getting them to turn over former Republican Congressman Mark Foley's computer files:

Lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives have denied Florida lawenforcement officials access to former Congressman Mark Foley's officecomputers. Investigators believe Foley may have used the machines tosend illegal sexually explicit messages to former congressional pages.

Instant messages reviewed by ABC News last October indicated theone-time Florida representative interrupted a House vote to engage inInternet sex with a high school student who had served as acongressional page and had been 18 for just six weeks at the time ofthe exchange.

Yet another reminder of how pathetically awful the last Congress was.

Despite Fox News labeling Foley as a Democrat after the scandal broke, voters in that heavily-weighted Republican district were fed up and elected a Democrat.

Back to the current investigation.  Congressional lawyers claim they already checked out the files themselves and did not find any graphic photos, and see no need to hand them over.  This comes as Florida state officials prepare to wrap up their year-long investigation into the Mark Foley scandal.

Great!  Some closure to this disgusting case.

Foley might not even be prosecuted

This is getting worse and worse.  Yesterday, the Republican-led House Ethics Committee ruled that the Republican leadership did nothing wrong in how it responded to the Foley incident.  Now, according to ABC News, Mark Foley himself might not even be prosecuted:

According to several sources, prosecutors have had difficultyestablishing probable cause of a crime. The barrier in getting past theprobable cause threshold was the statute on transmitting obscenematerials to minors. Under federal law, the age of minors receivingobscene materials is 16.

Bill Clinton had an affair with an adult intern and got impeached by the House of Representatives.  Foley engaged in perverted activity with minors and might never be prosecuted.  What kind of example are we setting?

Republican-led Ethics Committee gives partisan ruling on Foley

Gee, what a surprise!  The Republican-led House Ethics Committee finished its investigation into the Mark Foley sex scandal, and concluded that nothing was unethical about the way the Republican leadership handled it:

The panel voted to endorse an 89-page report recommending “no furtherinvestigative or disciplinary proceedings,” against anyone inconnection with the scandal, which is believed by many to havecontributed to heavy Republican losses in the November election.

It comes despite the fact that this same committee even admitted that a Republican House clerk had been addressing the Foley issue since 1995:

The committee concluded that House Clerk Jeff Trandahl"repeatedly tried to address Rep. Foley's conduct," beginning with his1995 election to the House, and "directly confronted Foley on thematter approximately ten times at various places for various reasons."

Dennis Hastert, the leader of the Republican majority, was found innocent by a Republican majority in the committee.  How would we have expected any other ruling but this?  This is where power can be such an asset.

Republicans to Foley: Please stay out of the way

Former Florida Congressman Mark Foley was scheduled to leave the Sierra-Tucson rehab center yesterday, almost provoking a situation where the Foley predatorgate scandal could have been put back in the front pages just days before the midterm election.  But according to ABC News, Foley has decided to stay an extra month -- an obvious favor to the Republican Party:

The Florida Republican checked into Sierra Tucson on Oct. 1, twodays after he resigned from Congress in disgrace.  Today Foley'sattorney told the Associated Press that Foley will stay longer but didnot specify how long.

Sierra Tucson offers treatment for "Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity"and other psychiatric and behavioral issues as well as alcohol and drugabuse.  In a statement released by his lawyer Oct. 2, Foley said, "Istrongly believe that I am an alcoholic and have accepted the need forimmediate treatment for alcoholism and other behavioral problems."

I wouldn't be surprised if some Republican was assigned to see to it that Mark Foley stayed inside the center until after the elections, well beyond his November 1st dismissal date.  The last thing Republicans need with the election just five days away is more talk about Foley.

CQ: Hastert's aide ordered investigators to stop Foley probe in 2005

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is not out of the woods yet.  Late Friday night, Congressional Quarterly reported that Ted Van Der Meid, the Speaker's Chief Counsel, told investigators to end their probe into the Mark Foley emails last year:

Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker

J. Dennis Hastert

hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.

The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van DerMeid, Hastert’s chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry,which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret securityoffice and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks fromcontractors to a Defense Department employee.

Ronald Garant and a second Appropriations Committee investigator whoasked not to be identified said Van Der Meid engaged in “screamingmatches” with investigators and told at least one aide not to talk tothem. Van Der Meid also prohibited investigators from visiting certainsites to check up on the effectiveness of the work, the investigatorssaid.

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This comes as the House Ethics Committee is wrapping up its investigation into what the House Republican leadership knew and when they knew it.

Rep. Kolbe accused of "fawning" pages

There is more than just one sicko Republican Congressman.  Only, this one, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), is retiring anyway.  ABC News reports on the ongoing investigation:

A source close to former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl told ABC Newsthat Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was one of a small numberof "problem members" of Congress who page program supervisorscomplained spent too much time socializing with pages, taking them todinner or sporting events outside of official duties.

Mark Foley was also on the list.

The source said Trandahl frequently cautioned both congressmen that"adults should hang out with adults, pages should hang out with pages,"a message Trandahl also conveyed to pages during their orientation.

Kolbe was also asked by reporters to respond to reports that theU.S. Attorney in Phoenix has opened a preliminary inquiry into a 1996camping trip Kolbe took with two high school boys, both former pages,following a report by MSNBC that one adult member of the trip was"creeped out" by "fawning, petting and touching" on the arms, shouldersand back of one of the teenagers by Kolbe.

I don't think I ever want to ever hear the word "fawning" again!  Until now, that was just a character (Mr. Tumnus) from Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.  Now I'm scarred for life!

Something is not right here though.  Who are the other "problem members" of Congress?  Who were the program supervisors and why did they not do anything about it?  If they did, which is what I suspect, then who did they tell and when?  Interestingly, Kolbe, even though he was on that list, knew about the Foley emails as early as the year 2000.  That means other people besides the program supervisors were aware of it.

Boehner tries to grab power from Hastert

It is a fundamental rule that politicians in positions of power will help destroy one of their own allies if it means obtaining more power.  That is precisely what is unfolding right now between House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Senate Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

Although they are both from the GOP, the Foley scandal has opened up an intra-party cat fight between the two.  The fight is over when Hastert knew about the Foley emails?  Speaker Hastert claims he did not learn about Congressman Mark Foley's emails until the spring of this year.  Boehner, however, strongly disagrees, and says he told Hastert years before.

On a Chicago radio station earlier this month, Boehner put most of the blame on Speaker Hastert:

"My position," he continued, "is, it's in his corner. It's hisresponsibility. The clerk of the House that runs the page program [and]the page board, all report to the Speaker, and I believed it had beendealt with."

While what John Boehner said might be true, he has some explaining to do as well.  Throughout the Foley aftermath, has been anything but consistent.  On September 29th, the week the Foley scandal broke, Boehner told the Washington Post that he spoke with Hastert -- only to call the post again one day later and tell them that he actually couldn't remember, forcing the newspaper to amend a story it published that Saturday.  Then, just one week later, he went on the Chicago radio station to say that he did indeed tell Hastert.  So obviously Boehner's story changes depending on which way the political winds blow.

Both Boehner and Hastert are doing damage control -- but it is within plain sight, making it even more obvious.  Boehner knows that if Hastert is forced out, then he will be next in line for the Speaker position.  But because Boehner keeps altering his story, he might be lumped in with Hastert and kicked out of the GOP leadership.  A couple of weeks back, I was told by a party source via email that Congressman Roy Blunt (R-CA), currently the House Majority Whip, could be bumped up to the Speaker position because he has done a careful but spectacular job of distancing himself from the Foley scandal.

Of course, Democrats would remind us that this GOP leadership fight won't mean a thing if Congress changes hands this November, ensuring once and for all that neither Hastert nor Boehner will have any say in policy for at least the next two years.

Page scandal involving another GOP Congressman

Let's not jump the gun on this one just yet.  It is only a preliminary investigation.  But it appears that the Justice Department is investigating U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ).  They say Jim Kolbe went on a camping trip with pages, and are trying to determine whether anything he did was illegal.

The Washington Post has some idea of what the allegations are about:

One official cautioned that the inquiry was based on allegations fromone unidentified source that has not been substantiated. Theallegations involve Kolbe's behavior toward one of the ex-pages, theofficial said.

The three-day trip down the Grand Canyon also included several Kolbestaffers and National Park Service employees, according to NBC News,which first reported the investigation. Kolbe's office said in astatement to NBC that "there is absolutely no basis and no truth" toany allegations of inappropriate behavior, and that the trip includedfive Kolbe aides, two former pages and Kolbe's sister.

Remember, the Foley scandal started off with a few emails that seemed tame to some, which was ultimately followed by other emails and instant messages that forced him to resign.  In other words, other stuff might be revealed about Kolbe within the next few days.

Jim Kolbe is the Republican U.S. House Rep. from the 8th district of Arizona.  He will retire at the end of this year.

White House threatened Foley not to retire

There was a time earlier this year when Mark Foley planned on retiring after the 2006 election.  But according to a source that spoke to The New Republic, the White House convinced Foley to run by threatening him:

Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLICthat in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire fromthe House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark's a friend of mine," saysthis source. "He told me, 'I'm thinking about getting out of it andbecoming a lobbyist.'"

But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring,something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him hewould indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Roveintervened.

According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "theWhite House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't,Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.

full story

That is a perfect example of how the GOP walks in lock-step.  It's especially how the House ran business under the gauntlet of Tom DeLay.  Non-leadership Republicans could not vote their conscience.  They couldn't even think for themselves.  They were slaves to the party leadership -- and the party leadership was a slave to lobbyists on K-Street.  Read more about the GOP's K-Street Project.

Foley groped a page on the House floor in 2001

Absolutely disgusting!  This inappropriate contact with a page happened in 2001:

A former House page said he witnessed inappropriate contact betweenformer Republican Congressman Mark Foley and another page in the backof the House floor in early 2001.

Thepage, Richard Nguyen, a first-year student at the University's GeraldFord School of Public Policy, said he saw Foley pat a male page'sbehind.

Foley's attorney did not return calls for comment.

Nguyen said he was not sure during which month the incident took place. He was a page between January and June of 2001.

Nguyendid not report the incident to authorities. At the time, thethen-16-year-old thought it was "questionable activity," but he wasunsure how to interpret it.

"I wasn't sure if it was a socialnorm I wasn't accustomed to," Nguyen said. "I mean, you see athletespatting each other's asses all the time on the field."

Nguyen,a first-generation Vietnamese American from California, said he wasamazed by what he learned about other points of view and otherlifestyles while serving.

A social norm?

As it was reported today, more than 400 calls from former pages have been made to the toll-free tip line ever since it was unveiled by Speaker Hastert last Thursday.

This weekend I am going to make a time line of the Foley scandal -- chronicling what people knew, when they knew it and how their stories have changed.

• Mark Foley Index