Foley Scandal Should Not Indict Others
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As I am sure you have all heard by now, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives has been accused of something horrible. His almost immediate resignation from office seems only to confirm that the accusations are true.
Representative Mark Foley, (R-FL), through instant messaging, engaged in conversations that can only be described as the solicitation of sex from a minor. For that, he deserves to be tried to the fullest extent of the law. Hopefully, laws he helped to enact as Co-Chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus will be used to put him behind bars for a long, long time.
However, his acts, in no way, should lead to the resignation of other congressman, for which some have called, based on what information we have now. Yet, in the op-ed section on October 3, the Washington Times called for the resignation of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL).
Their reasoning was faulty and based on a Monday-morning quarterback approach to how they would have handled the situation. It seems that Hastert’s staff was notified in the fall of 2005 that Foley sent e-mails to a former page. Those emails were not the sexually explicit instant message conversations revealed in late September by ABC News.
The New York Times reports that Hastert’s staff reported the e-mails to Rep. Rodney Alexander, who was the sponsor of the page who received the e-mails, and Rep. John Shimkus, Chairman of the House Page Board, which oversees the pages and their duties.
The matter might have been further investigated, but the parents of the page in question requested that the matter not be investigated further as long as Foley cut-off contact. The family released a statement to the media which says “[Alexander] did not think, nor did we think, that they were offensive enough to warrant an investigation.”
Notice that Speaker Hastert did not prevent an investigation. The parents did not think it was appropriate. Looking back, an investigation would have been advantageous, but there was not enough evidence to bring it to that level.
I have read those e-mails, and I have read most of the instant message conversations; at least all of those revealed by ABC News so far. The emails are not sexual.
Had it been the sexually explicit instant message conversations that were revealed in 2005 to members of congress, there would have been no reason for them to have not forwarded the messages to the FBI.
But these emails were not sexually explicit. Now, knowing what is in the instant messages, we can say that Foley most likely sent the e-mails as part of a sexual perversion of his. Someone not knowing Foley’s innermost thoughts would have trouble deducing their true meaning.
The “worse” parts of the e-mail are when Foley asks for a picture and asks the age of the page. Many times, I have walked into a doctor’s office or other business and in the lobby there is a collage of children and teenagers associated with the office. The dentist is not necessary a pedophile; he is just trying to add a personal touch to the office. For me, asking for a picture does not raise a red flag.
Let us not forget that we live in a country where we are innocent until proven guilty. Investigations are undertaken to determine the likelihood of guilt and to recommend legal action. When some questionable e-mails were brought to the attention of members of congress, they started looking into them. It is not as if the representatives brushed off the complaint. They alerted the parents.
If I were the parents, I would want to be informed of the e-mails, but then I would also want to have a say in what happens. This is exactly what happened.
I am not defending Foley’s actions. I actually feel the opposite; what he did was despicable, inappropriate and a complete misuse of his authority to try to seduce a teenage page into sexual relations, but there was nothing that Hastert or any other representative could have done to prevent it short of screening all congressmen’s mail. I think Hastert, the Speaker of the House, has more important things to do.
