Barbecuing, Mark Foley Style

[MADem]

A TIME corresondent recalls an evening at the former congressman's house - chaperoning a nervous colleague
By TIMOTHY J. BURGER


"The Congressman is having some people over and wanted me to invite you. Really casual—bring whoever you want." The Congressman was Mark Foley, at the time an obscure second-term Florida Republican. The invitation was extended to a friend of mine who, like me, was covering Capitol Hill for Roll Call. The extender was Kirk Fordham, then an aide to Foley, and the event was an impromptu springtime evening barbeque a decade ago.

But my fellow reporter, who has since left the business and wishes to remain anonymous, had for some time felt that Foley was a little more friendly toward him than was comfortable, way friendlier than even the most chummy newsmaker or source need ever be. So he hollered across the newsroom that Foley had invited him over, but he wasn't sure of the congressman's intentions so he'd only go if I would join him. It was a chance to engage in some source development and perhaps some amateur anthropology. You hang out in some strange situations as a journalist. It might even be fun. We headed over.

Foley lived in a row house near the House office buildings. Inside, it was crisply decorated. Most memorably, the living room showcased at least one framed photo of Foley with the actress Heather Locklear. Foley hinted that they'd dated. "The thing that struck me was how there were a ton of pictures of Foley with his arm around really hot women," recalls my reporter friend. Such photos may have swayed the voters back home. But here in Washington, at least, few were convinced. Most who knew Foley socially assumed he was gay — though BEFORE THIS YEAR I HAD never heard even a rumor that he actively pursued teenage boys. (Indeed, until recently, few paid much attention to something they assumed was Foley's business.) If anything, the pictures seemed over the top, as my friend puts it, "as if he was going out of his way to prove his heterosexuality." At the same time, over the years, Foley seemed to go out of his way to flirt with my buddy — sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much.

The backyard was spacious by oft-cramped Capitol Hill standards. Foley was probably the oldest in a small crowd that downed burgers and hot dogs in addition to plenty of beer and probably a good many gin and tonics. Fordham was there, as I recall, and some of Foley's other aides, including some attractive young women. One or two other reporters were there in addition to my colleague and me.

The evening's entertainment was Foley. Before last week, his claim to fame on the Hill was a knack for impersonations and storytelling. He could mimic Bill Clinton, and both sides of an argument between outgoing House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, a California Republican, and the panel's ranking Democrat, Charles Rangel of Harlem (two very different and very vivid characters). Foley regaled us with hilarious stories, about such things as the bizarre celebrity world of Rep. Sonny Bono, since killed in a skiing accident. Picture Cher dropping by the home of her ex-husband with new love Greg Allman for some nude sunbathing by Bono's pool. .....


http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1543713,00.html

[TrogL]

1. Homophobia - plain and simple

Foley is a pedophile. Not a word about that.

[MADem]

2. I found the paragraph about the puking in the bushes interesting....

I don't think this article is so much a story about homophobia (at least not on the part of the writer, perhaps on the part of his companion) but it does give one a glimpse at the whole CLOSET deal, the aggressive working of the facade--the pictures with the hotties, especially....