First of all I want to state I don't approve of what Foley did. But dd he truly do anything wrong.

If the age of consent in DC is 17 or lower then it was not illegal.

If pages report to a Head of Pages and not Senators then Foley didn't abuse a position of trust.

To try to clear up this second point. If a page reports to a Head of Pages then a page only provides services to a Senator, no different than a waitress provides service to his/her customers.

Thoughts?

I think it is clear from his reaction that Foley believes he did something wrong.

Based on my morals I think he did as well. But he may have acted both legally and ethically in the whole matter.

I'm pretty sure the age was 16, so it was illegal.

Legally, perhaps he did nothing illegal. I for one am not going to get all hyperbolic about this like many in the media have and say, “Oh, he’s a pedophile sexual predator!” He’s not. He’s gay, he likes ‘em young, but he likes ‘em with pubes, so he’s not that much of a deviant. I’m not familiar enough with this rapidly changing area of the law (internet sexual predator/pedophile, etc…) to comment on the legality of what was done.

But I can’t see how what he did could be considered ethical. Maybe what you mean is that he didn’t violate any ethical rules of the House. That may be true. From what I’ve heard (maybe I’ve heard wrong), Foley only had these contacts with the pages AFTER they had left the jobs and returned home. If that is the case, then I don’t see how this is any different from picking up 16 year-olds at the local arcade or in a chatroom.

I think the issue is that there seem to have been at least a half-dozen people in the House GOP leadership who knew about this, and who were concerned enough to pass it up the line to their superiors. They were also concerned enough about it TO TRY TO HIDE IT, and that perhaps says more than anything. Maybe they were just trying to hide the homosexuality of a key representative from a party base of homophobes, but still it’s not a pretty sight.

I've already stated this in the thread about Foley, but I don't have many issues with what he did/said.

yeah I read the dude's second line about age of consent and I'm like "uhh..he was 16 right?"

Wouldn't you be fired if you did this at your job? I would.

Sexual harrassment is what it is, regardless of age. As I've said, the more alarming issue is the attempt to avoid dealing with it all it might effect the number of seats Republicans win in November...and attempt that would have required numerous agreeing parties.

like i say, you cant harrass the willing, and at no point in the chat transcripts did the kid discourage him in the least

and yes, what he did was wrong, he was in a position of power and took advantage of it

i'm equally concerned with how lawmakers looked past it.

If Foley--a benevolent REPUBLICAN--got caught doing this, imagine what the godless Democrats are up to!

(Note: Sarcasm)

The fact that the kid (16 at the time, as reports say) did not discourage him does not make what he did justifiable. Personally, I don't think a person at that age is mature enough to enter into such a relationship, so I would hold Foley's feet to the fire. If anything, I don't think parents of these kids send them off to the House to get hit on by a guy in his 50s.
I will say that I think our society has gone overboard in "protecting children." For example, the infamous Janet Jackson nipple-slip at the Super Bowl halftime show, in my opinion, did not scar kids for life. But what Foley did was over the line, and I don't know if we've heard everything about this yet. Apparently he showed up drunk at the dorm where the pages stayed one night. Not good.

I think this says it all.

damn, i really should have taken advantage of all those passes high school girls i taught made at me

im not saying what he did was wrong, i just dont think it was harrassment

how about the fact that he voted against gay rights, including the "marriage defense act" in 1996

typical whore politician

and it is wrong for this guy to abuse his position of power and try to fuck a kid... 16 is still a child people, even if it wasnt legal or was the age of consent, it is still wrong

one of the kids complained to his parents and in turn a congressional leader in charge of such things about the messages. which equals harrassment, no?