WASHINGTON — Years before sexually explicit electronic messages sent by Rep. Mark Foley to teenage House pages became public last week, some on Capitol Hill say, the Florida Republican was known to have a special interest in younger men.
In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, several current and former congressional employees and others said they recalled Foley approaching young male pages, aides and interns at parties and other venues.
"Almost the first day I got there I was warned," said Mark Beck-Heyman, a San Diego native who served as a page in the House of Representatives in the summer of 1995. "It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages," said Beck-Heyman, adding that Foley, who is now 52, on several occasions asked him out for ice cream.
Another former congressional staff member said he too had been the object of Foley's advances. "It was so well known around the House. Pages passed it along from class to class," said the former aide, adding that when he was 18 a few years ago and working as an intern, Foley approached him at a bar near the Capitol and asked for his e-mail address.
Like most of those willing to discuss Foley, the young man asked not to be named because of concern that speaking openly could harm his career.
Foley resigned from office Friday. His attorney said Monday that Foley had checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation center. In a statement, Foley said: "I strongly believe that I'm an alcoholic and have accepted the need for immediate treatment for alcoholism and other behavioral problems."
News reports about the messages Foley sent sparked a furor that continues to build. Much of the controversy centers on whether Republican congressional leaders responded aggressively enough when they learned late last year about less salacious e-mails Foley had sent to another page. In those e-mails, Foley asked the page to send a photo of himself and asked how old he was.
The GOP leaders said Monday, as they have since Foley resigned, that the matter had been appropriately handled last year, when the House clerk and congressman in charge of the page program told Foley to cease contact with the page. They also have said they knew nothing about more explicit instant messages -- in which Foley graphically discussed sex -- and had no reason to be suspicious about Foley's behavior.
