In case you don't own a television, I'll here's a little background.
Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley is a sick pervert who sent inappropriate emails and sexually explicit instant messages to underage boys.
Congressional leaders learned about Foley's nonsense months ago and rumors of Foley have been circulating for years but the Republicans kept the whole thing under wraps until ABC broke the bombshell last week.
Here's the timeline (via Think Progress):
2001 - A Republican staff member warns pages "to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley." A former page says that they were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff." [ABC, 10/1/06]
2003 - Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has sexually explicit IM exchanges with an underage boy who worked as a Congressional page. [ABC News, 9/29/06]
SUMMER 2005 - Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sends inappropriate emails to another former Congressional page. [CREW]
SEPTEMBER 2005 - Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), who sponsored the page, learns "of the e-mails from a reporter." [AP, 9/29/06; CQ, 9/30/06]
FALL 2005 - "Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the [Speaker J. Denis Hastert's] Office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander's Chief of Staff who indicated that he had an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page…[Mike] Stokke [Deputy Chief of Staff for Speaker Hastert] called the Clerk and asked him to come to the Speaker's Office so that he could put him together with Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff." [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
LATE 2005 - Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the House Page Board, "was notified by the then Clerk of the House, who manages the Page Program, that he had been told by Congressman Rodney Alexander (R-LA) about an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House Page."
Shimkus interviewed Foley and told him "to cease all contact with this former house page." He did not inform Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), the only Democrat on the House page Board. [Roll Call, 9/29/06]
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 - Alexander tells NRCC chairman Tom Reynolds about “the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's." Reynolds tells Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about the emails and his conversation with Alexander. [Reynolds Statement, 9/30/06; Roll Call, 9/30/06; Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
SPRING 2006 - House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) learns of "inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page." After leaning about Foley's conduct, Boehner told Speaker of the House J. Denis Hastert who assured Boehner he would "take care of it." Later, Boehner changed his story and told the Washington Post he didn't remember whether he talked to Hastert. [Washington Post, 9/30/06; New York Times, 10/1/06]
MAY 10, 2006 - Reynold's personal PAC, TOMPAC, donates $5,000 to Foley’s campaign. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 27, 2006 - Foley writes a $100,000 check to the NRCC, chaired by Reynolds. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 27, 2006 - Foley, still co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, attends a signing ceremony at the White House for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. [White House, 9/27/06; Talkingpointsmemo, 9/30/06; Washington Post, 10/1/06]
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 - ABC publishes emails between Foley and former page. [ABC, 9/28/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 - Foley resigns. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 - ABC publishes sexually explict Instant Messages between Foley and several former pages. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 - "Aides to the speaker [Hastert] say he was not aware until last week of inappropriate behavior by Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned on Friday after portions of racy e-mail exchanges between him and current and former underage congressional pages became public." [Chicago Tribune, 9/30/06]
SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 - Hastert admits he was told about the emails by Reynolds in the spring. [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
This story is shameless and the cover-up from Dennis Hastert and other leading Republicans is even more disgraceful.Here's a video clip of Hastert doing his best to answer questions surrounding when he was notified about Foley's activities.
Okay, back to Connecticut. Guess who's the only Republican Congressperson who hasn't said a word about Hastert? You guess it, Nancy Johnson.
Chris Murphy smells blood in the water and lashes into Johnson yesterday.
Days have passed since Nancy Johnson learned that the other members of the leadership of her own party knew about inappropriate email exchanges between Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) and a teenage page at the U.S. Capitol late last year and took no action. We do not know when Johnson first learned of Foley’s actions. What we do know is that Johnson is the lone Republican in the Connecticut delegation to refuse to make a personal statement calling on her party's leaders to resign in light of their knowledge of this scandal. Chris Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Fifth District, today called on Johnson to publicly demand the resignation of Speaker Hastert.This is a no-brianer. Hastert knew about Foley but did nothing.
"If Nancy Johnson had the courage to stand up to her morally bankrupt colleagues in Washington , she would have done so already in a direct, public manner. The Republican leadership she proudly proclaims herself to be a part of knew what was going on and turned a blind eye. Now the people of Connecticut know without a doubt that Nancy Johnson is more interested in staying in Washington than doing what is right," said Murphy.
Unlike the Jack Abramoff which involves all types of dirty dealings and political lingo, the Mark Foley case is simple and easy for Americans to understand; Foley is a pervert who likes boys...nuff said. The fact that the Republicans knew about this months (if not years) ago has everyone in America outraged and rightfully so and Murphy is correct in demanding that Johnson do the right thing.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
