This piece from the LAT paints a picture of Foley scoping out pages and then hoping to score with them once they left the program. It tracks with the original e-mail that sparked the entire affair, as it was a personal e-mail to a then ex-page and was presumably an attempt to see if there were possibilities there for Foley to build upon. Further, if Foley’s peccadilloes were well known amongst the pages (as this piece indicates, as have others) it would explain why the young man in Louisiana considered the e-mail from Foley “sick” even though the content could have been dismissed as simply odd.

Generically we have a growing scenario in which Foley saw that page program as a meat market from which he could hopefully generate sex partners: Ex-Page Tells of Foley Liaison

A former House page says he had sex with then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) after receiving explicit e-mails in which the congressman described assessing the sexual orientation and physical attributes of underage pages but waiting until later to make direct advances.

The former page, who agreed to discuss his relationship with Foley with the Los Angeles Times on the condition that he not be identified, said his electronic correspondence with Foley began after he finished the respected Capitol Hill page program for high school juniors. His sexual encounter was in the fall of 2024, he said. At the time, he was 21 and a graduate of a rural Northeastern college.

[…]

The young man said that while serving as a page, he and his fellow pages gossiped frequently about Foley’s overly friendly behavior but did not complain about him to program supervisors or other members of Congress. They nicknamed him “Triple F,” for “Florida Fag Foley.”

[…]

After leaving the program, the former page began receiving messages from Foley. He is uncertain how Foley knew his college instant-message name, but assumed the congressman had access to a directory listing former pages’ whereabouts.

The exchanges quickly became provocative.

[…]

Ultimately, the young man said, he had a sexual encounter with Foley at the congressman’s Washington home.

Then 21, he was in Washington as an intern in an unrelated program.

The two had wine and pizza on a backyard patio and then retired to a spare bedroom, he recalled.

The former page, who served during Foley’s first term, said that he believed Foley became bolder in his behavior during his decade in Congress.

Folely’s first term in office was 1995-1997. As such, there was a great deal of time from then until now for him to hone his skills and to become emboldened with whatever successes he might have scored.

I have expected a story (indeed, stories) to emerge along these lines (i.e., that he went beyond the electronic to the carnal). I will not be surprised in the least if there is finally a revelation about activities with someone younger than 21, indeed even younger than 18.

In terms of political implications, these kinds of stories continue to buttress the notion that there was plenty of evidence to uncover inappropriate behavior on the part of Foley had House leadership bothered to engage in an investigation.

Of course, the cries will come that the man in this story was of full legal age. I do understand that and am not suggesting that there was anything criminal about the activities. However, there is still something inherently wrong about a middle aged man in a position of substantial power and influence using that position to start cultivating relationships with teenagers who are supposed to be in a safe and educational environment so that he can hopefully have sex with them once they leave the program. A behavior made worse by the fact that the predator in question positions himself in public as a grand protector of children from people such as himself. The impact is further compounded that Foley is from the political party that touts the importance of traditional values.

Before anyone starts defending Foley because in this story the page was an ex-page and of age, please ask oneself if this was a High School principal or teacher who engaged in this behavior, whether one would be willing to defend it. Further, it is clear that Foley wasn’t just a love-struck older man who had found his soulmate who unfortunately happened to be younger. No, Foley is a lust-filled man looking for sexual gratification with numerous persons over time. There is a rather significant difference. And the prepondrance of e-mails and IMs indicate quite heavily that there is a pattern here that stretches over years. Foley’s abrupt resignation lends substantial credence to that theory.