Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954 in Newton , Massachusetts ) is an American politician . Until September 29, 2006, he was a Republican MP for the 16th  Congressional District of Florida in the US House of Representatives .

Political career

Foley attended Lake Worth High School in Lake Worth (Florida) and graduated from the Palm Beach Community College from 1973 to 1975 , also in Lake Worth. He initially went into business for himself and was City Commissioner in 1977 and Deputy Mayor of Lake Worth from 1983 to 1984. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1990 to 1992 and the Florida Senate from 1993 to 1995 .

In 1994, Foley was first elected to the United States House of Representatives for Republicans. He received 58% of the vote in a duel against his Democratic opponent John Comerford. In 1996 he was elected with 64% against the candidate Jim Stuber; In 1998 he won the election unopposed. In 2000 he won against the Democrat Jean Elliott Brown and John McGuire of the Reform Party . In the 2002 election he received 78% of the votes and in 2004 another 68%.

In the House of Representatives, Foley was one of the fighters against child pornography and sexual abuse . Among other things, a law goes back to him, which gave voluntary youth organizations like the Boy Scouts of America access to FBI data in order to better protect the children in these organizations.

Foley rumors

Back in 2003, it was rumored for the first time that Foley might be homosexual and had been in a relationship with a man for several years. The topic was picked up by other media, including the New York Press . In a press conference, Foley stressed that his sexual orientation was not important - but the rumor was clearly never denied by him.

On 29 September 2006 in the press appeared a chat - log on, the one-run in February 2003 conversation sexually explicit content with a then 17-year-old former office boy in Congress reflects. Foley, who had always campaigned for the protection of children and against child pornography, drew the consequences and resigned. Even Foley's party friends saw what happened as a major scandal and damage to the Republicans' image. Proceedings for violating the Internet Child Pornography Act were discontinued. A justice spokesman criticized Foley and Congress for failing to work with Florida investigators. For example, the investigators were not given access to the computer files of the Congress.

Trivia

The 2007 debut album Curses by the Welsh band Future of the Left contains the song Manchasm , in which the scandal is sung as an example of double standards. The song was also released as a single in 2008.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ News-Press, September 29, 2006: Congressman resigns: Foley quits as e-mails to boy raise questions
2. ↑ Michelangelo Signorile : Liberace Candidate Mark Foley's glass closet. ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (New York Press, May 28, 2003) 
3. ↑ Marc Pitzke : Sex scandal shakes US election campaign ( Spiegel Online , October 4, 2006)
4. ↑ Sex chat scandal: No charges against Mark Foley , queer.de, September 22, 2008
5. ↑ Review of the title Manchasm, among others

Web links

• Mark Foley in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)