Mark Foley

Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954) is an American former politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Foley served in the Florida House of Representatives 1990–1992 and then in the Florida State Senate 1993–1994.

Foley was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 with 58 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat John Comerford.

He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party, before resigning due to revelations that he had sent sexually explicit messages to teenaged boys who had served as congressional pages in what came to be known as the Mark Foley scandal.

He was re-elected in 1996 with 64 percent of the vote against Democrat Jim Stuber and again in 1998 (this time without opposition).

On March 12, 1999 Reuters reported Foley as saying, "The Vice President is mistaken. The only thing he has ever invented is another tax. He did not invent the Internet but he sure did tax it."

He was re-elected in 2000 with 60 percent of the vote against Democrat Jean Elliott Brown and Reform Party candidate John McGuire.

In late 2000, Foley played a large role in aiding George W. Bush during the Presidential election recount controversy in Florida.

Constitution Party candidate Jack McLain was his only opponent in 2002.

He was re-elected in 2002 with 79 percent of the vote and in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote.

Foley was a moderate Republican.

He spent most of his tenure in Congress as a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

He was also the first public figure to imply that Vice President Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet.

He introduced a bill, coined the "Child Modeling Exploitation Prevention Act of 2002" to outlaw websites featuring sexually suggestive images of preteen children, saying that "these websites are nothing more than a fix for pedophiles."

As it was written, the bill would have prohibited commercial photography of children and it failed due to the unmanageable burden it would have presented to the legitimate entertainment industry.

In 2003, Foley was widely considered the Republican front-runner for Bob Graham's Senate seat, especially after Graham had announced his retirement.

However, longstanding rumors surfaced that Foley was either homosexual or bisexual and was in a long-term homosexual relationship.

The story was initially published only in local and gay press; then the New Times broke the story in the mainstream press.

Other alternative press rivals, including the New York Press, then addressed the topic.

Foley held a press conference to denounce the "revolting" rumors and stated that his sexual orientation was unimportant, but did not specifically deny the rumors.

A few weeks later, he withdrew his candidacy, saying his father's battle with cancer had caused him to reassess his perspective on life (the seat was later won by Republican Mel Martinez).

Foley had raised $3 million in campaign contributions before withdrawing.

In the House, Foley was one of the foremost opponents of child pornography.

Foley had served as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

In June 2003 he wrote letters to the governor and attorney general of Florida, asking them to review the legality of a program for teenagers of a Lake Como nudist resort in Land o' Lakes, Florida.

Foley's legislation to change federal sex offender laws was supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, America's Most Wanted host John Walsh and a number of victims' rights groups.

Foley resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006, acting on a request by the Republican leadership after allegations surfaced that he had sent suggestive emails and sexually explicit instant messages to teenage boys who had formerly served and were at that time serving as Congressional pages.

As a result of the disclosures, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted investigations of the messages to find possible criminal charges.

Each ended with no criminal finding.

In the case of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the "FDLE conducted as thorough and comprehensive investigation as possible considering Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," said FDLE commissioner Gerald Bailey with the closure of the case.

The House Ethics Committee also conducted an investigation into the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to possible earlier warnings of Foley's conduct.

Foley was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Frances and Edward Joseph Foley, Jr., a teacher and civic activist.

In 2006, Foley was a member of the Republican House leadership, serving as deputy whip.

President Bush signed it into law as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

Foley also succeeded in getting a law passed that allows volunteer youth-serving organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and Boys and Girls Clubs to have access to FBI fingerprint background checks.

Foley's stances on many social issues differ from his party's leadership.

Although he professes to be Roman Catholic Foley was a member of The Republican Majority For Choice which does not believe there should be any restriction on abortion.

He has, however, advocated alternatives such as adoption and sexual abstinence.

He also supported the Patriot Act, the death penalty and strict sentencing for hate crimes.

Foley was a member of Christine Todd Whitman's It's My Party Too and the Republican Main Street Partnership.