What's News? 10/2/06 Foley's Folly Sparks Partisan Politics Republican Florida Congressman Mark Foley may now be addressed as ex-Congressman Foley. After allegations that he had inappropriately (and perhaps illegally) communicated with former House pages (teenaged males) with email and instant messages that were apparently of a sexual nature, he resigned from the House of Representatives on Friday. That, and the fact that the FBI and the Florida Bureau of Investigation are both investigating his communications should be enough to put the matter to rest but this is Washington and this is an election year and shark fins are in the water everywhere. The Republican House Speaker, J. Dennis Hastert (Ill) is the one who got the FBI and Florida law enforcement involved in the case, but a score of Democrats are being reported by an eager press corps as saying that he only did that after they started putting pressure on him. The implications are, of course, that the Democrats are more concerned about sexual improprieties than the Republicans and, had it not been for the moral outrage of Democrats, Republicans would have done nothing beyond slapping Foley's wrist and giving him a time out in the fabled House cloakroom. Rep. Hastert, on the other hand, is saying that he had no reason to suspect that any laws (Federal or otherwise) were broken; they knew about "overly-friendly" (but not sexual) email sent to a 16-year old former page, had talked to Foley about that and told him to stop it immediately. It wasn't until last week, according to Hastert, that they learned of some sexually explicit messages Foley had previously sent to other boys who had served as pages; it was after that that Hastert requested FBI involvement. If the allegations prove to be true and Foley is found guilty of Federal, state or local crimes, he should be punished appropriately under the applicable laws, but turning this sad situation into a partisan political circus with the objective of gaining votes in the upcoming election is not, by any measure, a noble deed. The focus now should be on the Page Program and how to avoid this type of harassment in the future, not on how to manipulate this situation to gain or avoid losing votes in November. News Links: Scandal opens new door for Democrats FBI to Look at Foley's Actions