Re: FAM ILY VALUES

["Doug" <vssdoug@xxxxxxx>]

--

"Robert L Bass" <sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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> Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages In 2000
> Page Notified GOP Rep. Kolbe
>
> By Jonathan Weisman
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Monday, October 9, 2006; Page A01
>
> A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark
> Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and
> personally confronted Foley about his communications.
>
> A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a
> former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the
> youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking
> their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a
> Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter
> to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary,
> Korenna Cline.
>
> he revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member
> of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former
> pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.)
> suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus
> (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney
> Alexander (R-La.), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last
> fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond
> members, either in leadership or on the page board.
>
> A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement said the messages
> shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to
> The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted. But
> Cline denied the source's characterization, saying only that the
> messages had made the former page feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she
> said, "corrective action" was taken. Cline said she has not yet
> determined whether that action went beyond Kolbe's confrontation with
> Foley.
>
> In interviews with The Post last week, multiple pages identified Kolbe
> as a close friend and personal confidante who was one of the only
> members of Congress to take any interest in them. A former page
> himself, Kolbe offered to mentor pages and kept in touch with some of
> them after they left the program, according to the interviews.
>
> Kolbe once invited four former pages to make use of his Washington home
> while he was out of town, according to an instant message between Foley
> and another former page, Jordan Edmund, in January 2002. The pages
> planned to attend a first-year reunion of their page class. But because
> of a snowstorm, they did not take Kolbe up on his offer, according to
> one of the four pages.
>
> Cline said one of the youths invited was a former page of Kolbe's.
> Because the congressman frequently travels on weekends, either to his
> Arizona ranch or abroad, the house is often available to friends,
> constituents, staffers and former staff members, such as a former page,
> she said.
>
> Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, is retiring at the
> end of the year.
>
> The latest revelation in the growing House page scandal comes just a
> month before crucial midterm elections. Foley resigned Sept. 29 after
> ABC News confronted him with the sexually explicit messages that he
> exchanged with a former page, triggering investigations by the Justice
> Department, the House ethics committee and Florida authorities.
>
> Hastert and his top aides have been sharply criticized by Democrats and
> some conservative Republicans for failing to act promptly after
> receiving warnings that Foley had been sexually predatory in dealing
> with pages and former pages. Ron Bonjean, the speaker's spokesman, said
> yesterday: "Allegations of inappropriate conduct by members of Congress
> towards pages need to be fully reviewed by the ethics committee and law
> enforcement."
>
> In addressing the revelation about Kolbe, Bonjean said, "This
> allegation reiterates why the speaker has also called for a full review
> of the House page program to ensure that it is as safe and secure as
> possible."
>
> A new poll by Newsweek indicates the Foley scandal is doing significant
> damage to the Republicans' political fortunes and could sink their
> chances of holding onto control of Congress on Election Day, Nov. 7.
> The poll found that 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of
> Republicans, believe Hastert was aware of Foley's Internet
> communications with underage pages and tried to cover up Foley's
> actions. More of those polled, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats
> to do a better job handling moral values than Republicans; 36 percent
> favored Republicans on the values question.
>
> In a sharp exchange on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.),
> the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, insinuated that
> Democrats were behind the revelations of Foley's actions and the
> release of electronic messages showing Foley having sexually graphic or
> highly suggestive conversations with former pages.
>
> "What I don't understand is where have these e-mails been for three
> years? Are we saying that a 15-year-old child would have sat on e-mails
> that were triple-X-rated for three years and suddenly spring them out
> right on the eve of an election? That's just a little bit too
> suspicious, even for Washington, D.C.," Kingston said.
>
> Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) shot back, "If there's any evidence
> that you need that the values in Washington have turned upside down,
> you could just hear what Jack had to say. Only in Washington, D.C., can
> you take a group of people in charge of the House and basically have
> evidence that they've been looking the other way while a predator has
> been . . . going after 15- and 16-year-old pages, [and] they somehow .
> . . have the audacity to turn that into a political attack against
> Democrats."
>
> So far, only ABC News and The Washington Post are known to have
> obtained the sexually explicit instant messages between two former
> pages and Foley. The Post obtained its copies from a former page who
> served on Capitol Hill with the other two pages.
>
> Staff writer James V. Grimaldi contributed to this report.
>