Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, acknowledged the veracity of an email exchange with a 16-year-old male former congressional page and claimed that the release of the emails is part of a smear campaign by his opponent.
As far as I know, this is the site that originally broke the emails in question.
Was it “appropriate” for Foley to ask for a photo of the underage page or comment that one of his teenage friends was in “really great shape”?
According to ABC News' Blotter, “The e-mails were sent from Foley's personal AOL account, and the exchange began within weeks after the page finished his program on Capitol Hill.”
Foley's office says it is customary to keep pictures on file to serve as memory triggers when interns ask for recommendations, however, “the young man in question did not work or intern for Foley's office.”
According to Foley's Chief of Staff, “they believe the e-mail exchange began when the page asked Foley for a recommendation and that the subsequent exchange was totally innocent.”
There are plenty of unknowns in this equation, but certainly the co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus has some explaining to do.
Sixteen-Year-Old Who Worked as Capitol Hill Page Concerned About E-mail Exchange with Congressman [the blotter]
