Well, well. This ought to be interesting.
Mark Foley's about to talk.
The former congressman and 2006 Republican bête noire will appear on NBC News's Today Show next Wednesday. (or the Wednesday after next..)
That's according to a Florida source who is close to the former congressman....
Mr. Foley told friends that he wanted to wait until after the elections in 2008 so to have as little effect as possible on the current political situation.
He's sober, he's not blaming his problems on alcohol, he's kibitzing about Florida politics, and he's eager to speak...
(...)
Former Congressman Mark Foley has spent more than $250,000 of his campaign funds on lawyers since he was exposed for having inappropriate sexual conversations with minors online.The law allows Foley to pay Zuckerman Spaeder LLP from his pot of over $1.5 million in campaign funds that he had amassed prior to the scandal. Federal politicians can spend campaign money on their legal defense if they are facing charges relating to their conduct in office.
(...)
One of the most troubling parts of the emerging scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who sent sexually suggestive emails to teenaged congressional pages, is this: he chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
Foley carved out a role for himself as a congressional leader on the issue of exploited children, and is credited with authoring important sections of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 which President Bush signed into law this summer.(Former Rep. Mark Foley, far right, at the White House Rose Garden signing ceremony for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 on July 27, 2006. White House photo by Paul Morse)
He worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children whose website has pictures of him presenting awards to law enforcement officers and children who survived and or helped bring child predators to justice.
It would be a fascinating psychological study to try and understand how Foley could be both sending such emails to high schoolers while at the same time fighting against child predators. He is like the firefighter who turns out to also be an arsonist.(...)
(...)
Any American suspected of committing a crime has constitutional rights. But any American who also happens to be a member of Congress has extra constitutional rights. That fact should not prevent Florida investigators from having a look at former Rep. Mark Foley's congressional computers.
Last summer, attorneys for the House of Representatives denied the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's request to see Foley's computers. Investigators want to determine whether the computers contain evidence that Foley broke Florida laws against using the Internet to "seduce, lure or entice" a minor. Foley resigned in September 2006 after revelations that he exchanged many sexually explicit e-mails with underage boys.
So, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to grant access and, failing that, to explain why she won't grant it. On Tuesday, Rep. Pelosi announced that she has rejected FDLE's request because of constitutional issues.(...)
What are the chances Foley will tell the absolute truth regarding how the 109th Congress--in cahoots with John Walsh--bamboozled the American public by playing on a parent's worse fears?
"Stolen kids: for every Polly Klaas snatched from her bed by a murderous stranger, there are a hundred kids spirited away, all right, but by their own noncustodial parents."
