Mark Foley scandal
political scandal
The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centered on solicitous emails and sexually suggestive instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida, to teenage boys who had formerly served as congressional pages. Investigation was closed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on September 19, 2008, citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges as both "Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," according to FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey. The scandal grew to encompass the response of the Republican congressional leadership to previous complaints about Foley's contacts with the pages and inconsistencies in the leaders' public statements. There were also allegations that another Republican congressman, Jim Kolbe, had improper conduct with at least two teenage male pages, but federal investigators absolved Kolbe of any wrongdoing in the case.
The scandal led to Foley's resignation from Congress on September 29, 2006. In some quarters, the scandal is believed to have contributed to the Republican Party's loss of control over Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, as well as the end of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's leadership of the House Republicans. Kirk Fordham, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds and former chief of staff for Foley, also resigned as a result of the scandal.
Newsweek's June 7, 2010, issue's Back Story listed Foley, among others, as a prominent conservative politician who had a record of anti-gay legislation and yet was later caught in a gay sex scandal.
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