A retired priest from Malta acknowledged today that he had intimate contact with a youthful Mark Foley that involved nudity and -- on at least one occasion -- "light touching," but denied that he and Foley had "sexual intercourse."
Yes, it is another exciting edition of Foley's Follies. Continuing with the WaPost article:
The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, in a telephone interview with The Washington Post from the Maltese island of Gozo, said he was surprised that his long-ago interaction with Foley had become linked to the scandal that erupted last month and cost the former congressman his job.
Foley, who served as an altar boy at the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Lake Worth, Fla., when Mercieca was assigned there in the mid-1960s, resigned from Congress after reports about sexually intimate electronic messages he had sent to Congressional pages. Following his resignation, Foley entered alcohol rehabilitation, said he was gay, and alleged that he had been sexually abused by a member of the clergy as a youth.
This morning the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, citing confidential sources close to Foley's family, identified Mercieca as the priest in question. Though Mercieca confirmed his past ties to Foley to the Herald-Tribune and in the Post interview, the Post could not confirm that Foley was referring to Mercieca in his allegations, or whether there may be another priest involved.
So I guess Mark Foley isn't responsible for his actions in engaging in sexually explicit IMs with a 16-year-old page because Mark Foley was sexually abused by a Catholic priest.
You've got to love the spin on this.
But my interest here isn't just about Mark Foley. Foley's career as a public official is pretty much finished. What I do find interesting here is that the Foley scandal has split into two tracks. The first tracks is obviously the personal details of the Foley sex scandal--the publishing of the explicit emails, the resignation, Foley's entering into rehab, and now a sexual abuse connection between Foley and the Catholic Church. A sitting congressman was sexually abused by a Catholic priest--time for an investigation! This latest revelation is keeping the scandal fresh in the news media. And with just over two weeks before the election, the more that Mark Foley remains on the front page, the worst it is going to be for the GOP.
But we have a second track here on the Mark Foley scandal. This second track has been the GOP cover-up of the Foley scandal. This story is also on the WaPost:
WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader John Boehner testified before the House ethics committee Thursday, indicating afterward that he repeated his statements that he had told Speaker Dennis Hastert of Rep. Mark Foley's overly friendly e-mails to a former male page.
Boehner, R-Ohio, would not say what he specifically told the committee behind closed doors, but has publicly quoted Hastert as telling him the complaint "had been taken care of."
[....]
He appeared after the former clerk of the House testified about his actions regarding Foley's inappropriate conduct with male pages.
Hastert has said he doesn't recall the conversation with Boehner.
Boehner also issued a written statement, saying, "The despicable conduct from Mark Foley outraged all members who have great respect for this institution. Had anyone known about it, we would have moved to expel him from our ranks immediately."
Former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl did not answer reporters' questions as he left the panel's offices after several hours of testimony. His appearance was central to the case, though, since he shouldered day-to-day responsibility for the page program and had confronted Foley last fall about inappropriate e-mails.
[....]
At issue in the ethics committee investigation is how the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., dealt with the knowledge that Foley, a Florida Republican, was sending inappropriate e-mails to teenage congressional pages. The answers could affect not just Hastert but the prospects for control of the House when voters cast ballots in the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
In an internal report released by Hastert, his aides contend that they first learned about Foley's conduct in the fall of 2005, when they became aware of overly friendly e-mails to a former Louisiana page. However, Foley's former top aide said he told Hastert's chief of staff about Foley's conduct in 2002 or 2003.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, who also was to testify Thursday, told a Cincinnati radio station earlier this month that when he approached Hastert about Foley last spring, the speaker told him "it had been taken care of."
With polls showing the Foley scandal could hurt Republicans in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Trandahl's testimony could be damaging if he contradicts Hastert's account and says Republican leaders lacked the urgency required to protect the teenage pages. Hastert has fended off calls for his resignation and said he believes he and his staff acted properly.
Trandahl was the official who likely would have known about any problems involving the page program, including improper conduct by pages or improper approaches from lawmakers or House employees. He supervised the program and was on its controlling group, the House Page Board, which consists of three lawmakers, the House clerk and the sergeant at arms.
This track is even more damaging to the Republicans. Because what we have here is really a circular firing squad among the top Republican leaders in the House--Boehner, Hastert, NRCC chairman Tom Reynolds, John Shimkus, and Rodney Alexander. With everyone contradicting everyone else's version of events, you've got a CYA cover-up on an issue that the top Republican leadership wanted to ignore until after the congressional midterm elections. Because that is what this cover-up is all about. How can the Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives--and Congress--in the 2006 midterm elections. The Republicans thought that they could keep this scandal quiet until after November--until after Foley was re-elected. If the scandal broke after the elections, Foley could resign and the House seat would remain vacant--no change in party control in the House. The Republicans gambled they could keep this quiet. They were wrong. And now with just over two weeks to go, this track is also making the news as the top Republican leaders contradict each other--each refusing to fall on their own swords for the good of the Republican Party. What is even worst is that both of these Foley scandal tracts complement each other in keeping this scandal fresh in the news media.
Pass the popcorn.
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