Repub congressman scares male 16 year old intern with strange emails

[Herman Munster]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/sixteenyearold_.html

A 16-year-old male former congressional page concerned about the appropriateness of an e-mail exchange with a congressman alerted Capitol Hill staffers to the communication. Congressman Mark Foley's office says the e-mails were entirely appropriate and that their release is part of a smear campaign by his opponent.

In the series of e-mails, obtained by ABC News, from Rep. Foley (R-FL) to the former page, Foley asks the young man how old he is, what he wants for his birthday and requests a photo of him. Foley's office acknowledges that Foley wrote the e-mails to the young man but says they were completely innocent and that Foley is at most guilty of being "too friendly and too engaging" with young people. The e-mails were sent from Foley's personal AOL account, and the exchange began within weeks after the page finished his program on Capitol Hill. In one, Foley writes, "did you have fun at your conference…what do you want for your birthday coming up…what stuff do you like to do."

In another Foley writes, "how are you weathering the hurricane…are you safe…send me an email pic of you as well…" The young man forwarded that e-mail to a congressional staffer saying it was "sick sick sick sick sick."

[ellenfl]

1. i hope this hits the local papers. his sexuality has always

been speculated about. i will be calling voters in his district this weekend . . . to ask them to vote against him, of course. his dem opponent is being 'swiftboated' big time here.

ellen fl

[Jackpine Radical]

2. It's a sad world when

you can't make innocent gestures of friendship to a younger person.

It's even sadder when these gestures are not innocent.

I have no idea if Foley's intentions were "sick sick sick sick sick" or not. I wouldn't want to see even a Puggy hung on such slim evidence.

[David Dunham]

3. Foley has long been rumored to be a perverse closet case Repug

[Herman Munster]

8. yes

I even remember he had a press conference with jeb bush to denounce all the rumors he was gay.

He didn't deny the accusations either. It's pretty common knowledge he is gay in south florida. I remember the new times ran some stories on him quoting sources about his gay lovers.

[Herman Munster]

9. yup

read this article

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/01/Perspective/Don_t_ask__because_Ma.shtml

[ellenfl]

4. if he is innocent, agreed. does not look too good tho'.

what possible reason would he have for befriending a 16 year old? he must know what it will look like. what if this was a 16 year old female? what if he were a dem? do you think the repugs would not capitalize on this info? look what they did to clinton and that was 2 consenting adults!

i have always felt that we should not stoop to the repugs level but the last six years have changed my mind. we have to do everything we can to take back our country. foley appears to have no compunctions about smearing his dem opponent. he's had a free ride for too long.

not to mention that his party is even smearing ordinary americans. this admin has to be stopped.

ellen fl

[Sydnie]

5. Well, since we are not in the young man's shoes

I think I will defer to him on his determination of what "sick" motives might be behind such emails. Perhaps the emails are the paper trail of other actions that made this young man uncomfortable in real face to face interactions.

He would be the best judge of what made him uncomfortable, wouldn't he? Or, should we blame the harassed instead? :shrug:

Shining a light is what was needed if he was made to feel that the emails were out of line, IMHO.

[WinkyDink]

7. They are clearly, to me, wink, wink invites, to see how the kid would

react. It never starts out graphically.

A birthday gift? Yeah, but I'd bet that teen would've had to go to the guy's house to get it.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. I'm quite familiar with "grooming" behavior.

As a forensic psychologist I've been through so much professional training about sex offender behavior and evaluating sex offenders that my skin crawls when I get hear the issue.

I also serve as a sort of informal "big brother" to a 12 year old boy. I almost always make sure my neighbor comes along whenever I spend time with the kid, just to avoid any possible suspicions or accusations, but the neghbor & I buy him birthday & Christmas gifts, etc. I really hate it that the world is so crapped up that we have to worry about stuff like this.

[Hav]

6. .

On another thread I read that it is obviously normal to request a pic so that you remember the person and some said that it could be harmless and mostly smears. The question "what do you want for your birthday" is strange for me, though.