American Apologies

Former congressman Mark Foley had things pretty good up until 2006. He was a moderate Republican who had been serving since 1995, and was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which introduced legislation targeting sexual predators and created stricter guidelines for tracking them. The ultimate irony was that Foley was found out in 2006 to be soliciting e-mails and sexually suggestive instant messages to teenage boys who had formerly served as congressional pages. Foley had come under fire from conservatives earlier in his career for being potentially homosexual, but when it was revealed that he had engaged in lewd behavior with impressionable pages, there was no side to defend him. Based on most accounts, he had engaged in sexually explicit talks with male pages of all ages (16+) periodically from 1995 to 2005, and potentially had some form of sex with ex-pages who were of age. It was reported that Foley himself was a victim of sexual assault by an unnamed clergyman as a child, his inappropriate conversations were the result of a secret alcohol problem, and he was gay but not a pedophile. Foley made the obvious move by resigning, and headed to rehab for his alcohol problem. Ultimately, he was not charged with any crime, but Foley’s misconduct highlights the questionable ethics of congressmen who are there to serve, but end up serving themselves in disturbing ways.