Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) has resigned from Congress after it was revealed that he had sent potentially inappropriate emails to a 16-year-old Congressional page.
It sounds like there may be more skeletons in Foley’s closet that he doesn’t want revealed, which would explain why Foley is resigning now rather than fighting the matter. The Florida GOP can still replace him on the ballot, but it is anyone’s guess what the fallout of this matter may be, both in Florida and nationally.
UPDATE: Apparently Foley’s name must stay on the ballot, which makes things much more difficult in replacing him.
It’s so much fun when these GOP crooks/scoundrels/perverts decide to give their seats to us. First DeLay, probably Ney, and now Foley. Three down, 12 to go.
Foley was in one of those districts where you could win if you were a Republican unless you were caught with a live boy or a dead girl.
Seth, not true. Foley’s district in based out of Southern Florida’s Democratic Gold Coast, albeit one of the more Republican areas of the region. The PVI index for the district is only +2.3 Republican. There are dozens of Democrats holding down Congressional seats far more Republican than that. Even if Foley finds a suitable replacement, this will be a battleground district as an open seat.
I think it’s astounding that the House leadership knew about his emails for almost an entire year and did absolutely nothing about it.
Justin, agreed. If that story gets widespread media coverage, the Republicans’ prospects of holding the House in November will get slimmer. I was thinking they’d probably hold on, but this could really hurt them if it stays in the news a few days.
I think it will. The House leadership has 20 different stories about who knew what when, which even the most guileless reporter has to sniff out as a sign of a coverup.
This is about to blow up in a lot of people’s faces. The only thing that scares the American people more than terrorists under the bed are pedophiles on the internet.