Connecticut Congressmen Denounce Foley’s Actions
FOLEYMESS
New London Day
Margaret Stevenson
Boston University Washington News Service
October 3, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 —Republican and Democratic Congressmen from Connecticut denounced the actions of disgraced ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) who resigned Friday after it was disclosed he had been writing sexually explicit messages teenage former House pages.
“When it comes to those who attempt to sexually exploit children over the Internet, no individual—not even a member of Congress—is above the law,” Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) said. “Mr. Foley must be held accountable for his inexcusable actions.”
Simmons received $2,000 from Foley’s campaign committee in June of 2001. On Monday, Simmons donated the money to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“I support a full criminal investigation into this incident,” Rep. Simmons said. “If it is found that any member of Congress or staff willingly participated in a cover-up of Mr. Foley’s actions, that individual should resign immediately.”
Foley resigned Friday after explicit and inappropriate electronic messages e he had written to underage male pages were made public.
“We in Congress are personally responsible for the well-being of the minors in the page program, and for a member to prey on them is absolutely reprehensible, one of the worst violations of the public trust imaginable,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said in a statement released on Sunday.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) added: “This is a very serious matter, and most importantly we need to know what, if anything, is being done to protect young House pages from unacceptable behavior by members.”
Congressional pages are students in their junior year of high-school who serve for one year as House or Senate messengers.
In an editorial Tuesday, the conservative Washington Times asked Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to resign because of suggestions that he reacted insufficiently to early warnings regarding Foley’s behavior.
Lieberman said he was disturbed by the suggestion that the House leadership may have been ignoring or covering up the Foley scandal.
“If it is found that anyone in the House, whether a leader or a member, contributed to this disgraceful and immoral exploitation of a minor in the page program, then they should be held fully accountable,” Lieberman stated.
Lieberman said he has proposed setting up an Office of Public Integrity that would be able to investigate ethical complaints against members of Congress and would be equipped with an executive director and an investigative staff. Lieberman promised to bring back up his proposal in a post-election, lame-duck session in November.
Dodd said it was important to find out when the Republican leadership knew of Foley’s behavior and why all the page oversight board members were not informed, rather than just the Republican chairman.
