Page e-mails show Foley aware of risk

The redacting process in the House ethics panel’s detailing of the Mark Foley affair failed to omit the name of one teenage boy who received sexually explicit instant messages from Mr. Foley. The report, which measures two inches thick, included the Florida Republican’s telephone number.

The 100 pages of texts of the e-mails and instant messages portray Mr. Foley as a risk-taker who appeared to know he was doing something wrong.

The four-person investigative subpanel of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct pulled together 3,500 pages of transcribed sworn testimony from 51 persons with knowledge of Mr. Foley’s behavior toward the teenage boys serving as congressional pages. They blacked out identifying details about the teenagers — such as their Internet screen names and their hometowns — but missed a few.

The e-mails between Mr. Foley and a former page in the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander, Louisiana Republican, which first ignited the political scandal, have the boy’s name eliminated, but include details about his high school class schedule, his role in specific state leadership groups and his work with a young Republicans group.

In addition, instant messages between Mr. Foley and another former page are printed with the page’s first name still included in one exchange. An instant-message exchange between Mr. Foley and a third former page mention’s another boy’s name.

The ethics panel did not eliminate a note from Mr. Foley in which he told an ex-page to call him and typed in his home number on D Street Southeast.

Beyond the identifying references, a close read of the sexually explicit instant messages between Mr. Foley and at least two former pages reveal a man who appeared to be aware of the political ramifications that could emerge if the messages were exposed.

In one chat after the teenager graphically described sex acts, Mr. Foley tells the former page: “Just didn’t want you to share we had been having fun e-mail chats.”

The boy responds: “Why would I do that … that could do some harm … and I wouldn’t want to hurt your campaign.”

Mr. Foley, who was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, replied: “Thanks. That would cause some huge harm.”

He worries about his phone number appearing on a former page’s cellular phone bill that is viewed by the teen’s parents, saying: “I don’t want to be listed as one of your calls.”

Mr. Foley says he will help the boy accomplish his goal of becoming a “stylish and elite” person.

“We will make you successful,” Mr. Foley said, “as long as you don’t mind me [performing an oral sex act] once in awhile.”

The Internet exchanges also paint the congressman as increasingly aggressive toward the teenagers, telling them how much he misses them and, in several instances, that he loves them.

“Slow things down a little, I’m still young,” one page tells Mr. Foley in a graphic chat.

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