The Scene of Foley's Crime

Screenshot - Mark Foley's 2003-04 Expenditure Report
(click graphic to enlarge)

The most damning Mark Foley email/text messages to under-aged House pages which have been released to date are said by ABC Television to have been written in 2003.

Adults who have a strong stomach can read that entire message exchange here. [Caution: pdf file - sexually explicit] On the face of it, Foley claimed in those messages that he was in a hotel in 'Pensecola' -- his spelling.

A quick review of Foley's campaign expenditures for that two-year cycle shows that he checked into the Courtyard Hotel in downtown Pensacola and paid for the $269 room on August 9, 2003. This might be just a boring footnote to history if it weren't for today's news.

Now, it's being reported that Foley has ducked into rehab claiming he is an alcoholic. As Josh Marshall says --

"Once again, the last refuge of the disgraced House Republican: rehab."

When the story first broke, we assumed Foley might have been here for a Bush or Jeff Miller rally. Now that we've had time to rummage through some old notes, it seems certain that this was the time in August, 2003, that Mark Foley came to Pensacola to explore running for U.S. Senator against the incumbent, Bill Nelson.

On that occasion he was interviewed by the Pensacola News Journal editorial board.

We've had the chance to witness some of the PNJ's editorial board meetings in past years. Anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen columnists, reporters, and editors right up to the local "publisher" are seated around a conference table and have an extended opportunity to chat with the guest. The meetings generally last an hour or two.

So, now one has to wonder: on the very day Mark Foley was sending out his obscene emails and text messages, did anyone in that roomful of journalists happen to notice signs of Foley's claimed alcohol problem? If they did, why wasn't it reported?

If not... Well, that would be news, too, right?

Related Links

Page Turner in Pensacola
... ex-congressman Foley, writing in 2003 under the assumed name of "Maf54" appears to have committed at least some of his pedophiliac felonies right here in Pensacola. The proof of jurisdiction appears in one email itself... .