Roles of gay staffers raise suspicions in Foley scandal

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 22, 2006

WASHINGTON — One of the inescapable facts of the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley is that three key people who had some of the earliest clues about the congressman’s advances toward teenage boys are, like Foley, gay.

Jim Kolbe, a Republican congressman from Arizona, received a complaint from a former page in 2001 or 2002 that Foley had sent the boy e-mails that made him uncomfortable. Jeff Trandahl, the House clerk in charge of the page program, was so concerned about Foley’s behavior several years ago that he reported it to Kirk Fordham, Foley’s chief of staff.

Kolbe, Trandahl and Fordham are openly gay.

The question of who knew what, and when, has roiled the uneasy peace between the Republican Party and its cadre of gay staffers, who don’t welcome the spotlight. It also has raised the question: Were Kolbe, Fordham and Trandahl trying to downplay the Foley issue to protect a fellow gay Republican?

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/22/Worldandnation/Roles_...

Were Kolbe, Fordham and Trandahl trying to downplay the Foley issue to protect a fellow gay Republican? No! They were trying to downplay the Foley issue to protect a fellow Republican.

[xchrom]

1. the purpose of this article is to say that The Gays

were more guilty of the same things that there hetero counterparts were.

The Gays are evil.

[rpannier]

2. And tubbo the clown (aka speaker of the house)

did nothing because???

They ought to tackle that question.

Once again...it's the republikkaner-enabling press with their

"What did the subordinates know?" not what people with real power knew and did.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Plus, the ones that actually did try to do something

are the ones at fault in this story.

This article uses the same twisted logic that people use who blame a woman for letting a man rape her.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vinca]

7. Well . . . there goes breakfast. nt

[area51]

11. LOL. (n/t)

[Behind the Aegis]

4. blaming the victim...a common theme.

It happens on both sides. One tries to "rationalize away" why the problem happened, only to appear to be blaming the ones who suffered.

[sam sarrha]

5. Clinton was Gay.!!!! yea.! that's the ticket..!!

[noonwitch]

8. Maybe some of the pages felt safer telling an openly gay person

about the whole thing? Perhaps they originally didn't want a big deal made, but just wanted Foley to stop sending them the messages? It would make sense that a kid who just wanted it to stop would approach someone who he thought could talk to Foley and get him to stop.

[EFerrari]

9. You can submit a comment at the link. Mine:

"It seems to me that the three staffers mentioned in this article were the only ones who tried to protect the minor page from being preyed upon.

Maybe we need more gay staffers in Washington."

What f#ckheads these people are. Does FL have ANY newspapers that aren't fish wrap?

[Demit]

12. Yes, the alt weekly, the New Times. Their reporter wrote about Foley in 03

When I lived in Miami, I loved the Miami New Times. Always good investigative pieces. http://www.newtimesbpb.com/

[Lindacooks]

10. GAY PEOPLE AREN'T PEDOPHILES!!

For God's sake, what the hell is wrong with people?

[greeneyedboy]

13. so many logical errors i don't know where to begin.

[truthisfreedom]

14. wow, still in the news? how many days is this... 15?

remarkable.

[Fovea]

15. The real message that this tries to smokescreen...

Is that Republicans are a racketeering influenced organization.
Specifically, they are a Pedophile ring masquerading as a government.