It's unclear at this point where the Stop Sex Predators Now blog fits into the timeline. They had the "too friendly" e-mails on 9/24 and published them? Did other actors independently distribute the e-mails? From whom did the St. Pete Times obtain their copy?
2003: Ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) apparently writes "sexually explicit" emails to underage pages.
11/05: The St. Petersburg Times contacted Alexander "after obtaining a series of emails from Foley to one of Alexander's former pages. Foley told the Times at the time that it was an "innocent exchange," and Alexander told the Times in 11/05 that "he was unaware of the matter until the newspaper called." The Times never published a story, and never saw sexually explicit emails from Foley (St. Petersburg Times, 10/1).
Fall '05: Alexander's CoS "contacted the Speaker's office about Foley's email exchange. Alexander was concerned about it." The speaker's deputy CoS and in-house counsel "told Alexander's aide to contact the House clerk" (St. Petersburg Times, 10/1).
Fall '05: Reynolds "says he told Hastert in a conversation months ago that he had heard about some problematic e-mails. Hastert says he doesn't recall the conversation but does not dispute Reynolds' recollection" (Chicago Tribune, 10/2).
Fall '05: "Rather than call a board meeting, Shimkus ... went to Foley and warned him privately against what were described by Republican lawmakers as nonsexual but 'overly friendly' emails to a former page." Ex-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl "has yet to comment publicly on the matter." But Trandahl "accompanied [Shimkus] when he met with Mr. Foley." Kildee said Shimkus told him last week he felt "broken-hearted" about the matter" (Wall Street Journal, 10/2).
Spring '06: GOP sources said NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds (R-NY) "remembers being told" of the Mark Foley e-mails by Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA) "'sometime in the spring of '06' One source said Maj. Leader John Boehner (R-OH) "told Alexander to go to Reynolds with his concerns about Foley's behavior" in the spring of '06.(Roll Call, 9/30).
8/7/06: The NRCC accepts a $100K contribution from Foley's campaign cmte.
9/28: ABC News reports Foley's email exchanges with a 16-year-old page.
9/29: Foley resigns (mult).
9/29: ABC News interviews Foley "about excerpts of instant messages provided by current and former pages under the age of 18. ABC reported that Foley, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual acts and body parts. Foley's spokesman did not respond to a Washington Post request for comment on the ABC report" (ABC News, 9/29).
9/29: A strategist for Foley "tried to cut a deal" with ABC's Brian Ross. Ross, "who had dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages, had asked to interview Foley. His ex-CoS "said the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages." Ross: "I said we're not making any deals" (Kurtz, Washington Post, 10/2).
9/29: House Maj. Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told the Washington Post "that he had learned this spring of inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page." Boehner "said he then told Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert" (Washington Post, 9/30).
9/29: Boehner told the Washington Post that Alexander "informed him of the Foley e-mails early this year, after Alexander received complaints from the former page's parents about contacts between Foley and their son." The Post quoted Boehner as saying he then informed Hastert, who assured him, "we're taking care of it." Boehner "now denies telling the Post of such a conversation between Hastert and himself, and his aides said Saturday that he 'cannot recall' informing anyone other than chief Hastert counsel Paula Nowakowski of the matter. (Roll Call, 9/30).
9/29: "The more explicit [email] conversations" between Foley and underage pages, which occurred in '03, "were revealed to House leaders," according to Hastert (Roll Call, 10/1).
9/30: Rep. Dale Kildee (MI), the top Dem on the page board, says he was never notified of the Foley emails (mult., 10/1).
9/30: Hastert's office said staffers were aware of an "over-friendly" message by Foley in fall 05 (mult., 10/1).
9/30: Reynolds released a p.m. statement saying he "had discussed with Hastert the initial '05 e-mail exchange that was vetted by Trandahl and Shimkus, "who determined no action would be taken beyond advising Foley to end communications with the teenager at the request of the child's parents" (Roll Call, 10/1).
9/30: Following the release of Reynolds' statement, Hastert's office issued its own "preliminary report" on how the Speaker and his staff handled the Foley scandal. Hastert "declined to contest publicly what Reynolds had said earlier, but his office did say that the Speaker could not 'explicitly recall' any such conversation between the two men." Hastert: "Congressman Tom Reynolds in a statement issued today indicates that many months later, in the spring of 2006, he was approached by Congressman Alexander who mentioned the Foley issue from the previous fall. During a meeting with the Speaker, [Reynolds] says he noted the issue which had been raised by Alexander and told the Speaker that an investigation was conducted by the Clerk of the House and Shimkus. While the Speaker does not explicitly recall this conversation, he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynold’s recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution" (Roll Call, 9/30).
10/2: Foley's atty says the former congressman has entered an alcohol treatment facility (AP, 10/2).
I would add one date to your timeline: in 2001, a Republican staff member warned pages to "watch out" for Foley.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2514259&page=1
October Surprise
Well the good news is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is finally getting it. I called their Director of Communications, Bill Burton, to let him know that the Foley thing (and another case) were coming down the pike. While Burton promised to have someone email or return my call and didn't, I am glad he followed up on my call and was ready on Friday to come out of the gate running.
The bad new is they are still not paying enough attention... There are others within reach... If the Democrats would only fight half as hard as the Republicans.
I posted comments at the DCCC website on the Foley entry. Not only do their promises of returned calls and emails never come to fruition, but now they are deleting my comments from their blog, The Stakeholder.
Luckily the comments were cached before they axed them.
Here's the one I put up at 9:55pm:
Very exciting.
I am glad my work on this is finally coming to fruition. I spoke with Bill Burton at the DCCC about this and I'm so glad you guys were able to jump in on the heels of my work.
Obviously we didn't have a chance at winning this seat, so this is great.
Good Job!
Mike Rogers
Blogactive.com
Posted by: Mike Rogers / September 29, 2006 09:55 PM
Here's the one I put up at 10:02pm: Very exciting.
I am glad my work on this is finally coming to fruition. I spoke with Bill Burton at the DCCC about this and I'm so glad you guys were able to jump in on the heels of my work.
Obviously we didn't have a chance at winning this seat, so this is great.
Good Job!
Mike Rogers
Blogactive.com
Posted by: Mike Rogers / September 29, 2006 09:55 PM
Well, at least they are paying attention.
http://www.blogactive.com/2006/10/good-news-bad-news.html
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Sorry, but what is kimerikas?
Jane.
Sorry, but what is kimerikas?
Jane.
Sorry, but what is kimerikas?
Jane.