Mark Foley had secrets.
First, there was whispering about the Republican congressman's sexual orientation, beginning in 1994 during his first House campaign. He was almost outed two years later when he voted against gay marriage. In 2003, Foley dropped a Senate bid after the rumor mill again started churning. He dismissed the speculation as "revolting and unforgivable."
Although publicly unacknowledged, Foley's homosexuality gradually became known in Washington and Florida political circles. Over time, it became a defining force in his career. Foley was restlessly ambitious, but as a Republican from a state with lots of social conservatives, his prospects for higher office were dim.
He hit the gay glass ceiling in Congress, too. Foley served nearly 12 years in Congress and was regarded as an energetic and capable lawmaker. But he barely registered on the senior GOP leadership's radar screen. "I've never had a conversation with him," said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert. "Other than his vote on a tariff matter at one time or another, I think."
But as Foley attempted to navigate the tricky path of being a gay Republican, there was yet another, darker secret that he proved unable to handle: He was making sexual advances toward teenagers. For all his caution about his sexual orientation, it wasn't that but his pursuit of underage former congressional pages that wrecked his career.
Hastert and other senior GOP leaders are now battling fierce criticism that they failed to act forcefully upon learning of inappropriate e-mails between Foley and a 16-year-old boy. The speaker's office asked a Republican colleague to warn Foley to back off, but GOP leaders did not officially alert the full page board, which included one Democrat, or the bipartisan ethics committee.
Foley's fate was sealed when transcripts surfaced late last week of lurid instant-message exchanges between the congressman and other former pages. To some people who have known Foley for years, the sordid details were both shocking and somewhat ironic, given his painstaking efforts to shield his private life.
Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, said he refused to believe early reports about the page exchanges, which he dubbed "the evil e-mails." His wife was so stunned that she was convinced someone had hacked into Foley's instant-message account. "That's how far off it was from the Mark Foley we knew," he said.
Like most local officials, Dinerstein had known about Foley's sexual orientation for years. He recently ran into the congressman and his longtime companion, a Palm Beach doctor, along with Foley's sister and her husband, while dining at a local restaurant. "He didn't introduce him as his companion," said Dinerstein. "But I knew who he was from the whisper mill."
'Emotionally devastated'
The 52-year-old congressman has checked himself into an undisclosed treatment facility for alcoholism and "other behavioral problems." He said in a statement, "I deeply regret and accept full responsibility for the harm I have caused."
Foley's attorney, David Roth, confirmed at a Florida news conference on Tuesday night that his client was gay. "Mark Foley wants you to know that he is a gay man," Roth told reporters.
The lawyer also said Foley had been molested by a clergy member as a teenager, although he said the congressman wasn't making excuses for his behavior. Foley is a Catholic and attended Catholic schools, but Roth refused to state the clergy member's affiliation. Foley entered the treatment center Sunday night and will remain there at least 30 days, Roth said.
He described Foley as "emotionally devastated. He feels he let everyone down -- his constituents, his family, his loved ones, his party and the people he hurt."
Before last week, Foley carved out a reputation as a gung-ho, if slightly unpredictable, mainstream Republican. After dropping out of a South Florida community college, he opened a local restaurant at age 20 and won a seat on the Lake Worth city commission three years later. He was elected to the state House in 1990, the state Senate in 1992 and the U.S. House in 1994.
Foley staked out typical Florida Republican positions on such issues as immigration, agriculture and Cuba. As widely noted in recent days, he took a particular interest in sexual crimes and portrayed himself as a protector of exploited children. Foley snagged a plum seat on the Ways and Means Committee and delved into trade and Medicare arcana. The last bill Foley introduced, on Sept. 26, congratulated the Professional Golfers Association of America on its 90th anniversary.
The congressman worked doggedly to please House GOP leaders by raising funds for key candidates and rounding up votes for critical bills. He rose to be a deputy whip in then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay's (R-Tex.) organization and frequently praised DeLay in public. He compared the Texan to a "country club manager" during an interview at the 2000 GOP presidential convention. "He makes sure every member's needs are met, and that's why we work hard for him," Foley told The Washington Post at the time.
All in all, he was viewed as a reliable Republican House member. "I've always found him to be a smart guy with a very engaging personality," said John Feehery, a former top Hastert aide.
Always looking 'for an event to attend'
Foley was more socially gregarious than most members, entertaining at his Capitol Hill home and attending parties and gatherings around town. He signed up for lavish recess getaways with lobbyists and donors, and in recent years attended some events with his companion, the Palm Beach doctor.
A gifted mimic, he would regale fundraising audiences and cocktail parties with imitations of former president Clinton, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "The man loved being an elected official," said Dinerstein. "He'd wake up in the morning and look for an event to attend."
Bubbling just below the surface was Foley's private life, which some found hard to reconcile with his public actions.
"You have someone who for all intents and purposes is a gay person, but continues to perpetuate the myth that there's something wrong with it," said Tracy Thorne-Begland, a Foley family friend.
In 1992, as a Navy lieutenant, Thorne-Begland announced that he was gay during a nationally televised interview, helping to lay the groundwork for the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Four years later, after Foley voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, Thorne-Begland called to complain.
"It was clear to me that he was very closeted, very uncomfortable with his sexuality," said Thorne-Begland, now an attorney for the city of Richmond.
Thorne-Begland's father, Lake Worth surgeon and pilot Roscoe Thorne, had flown Foley to campaign events during his first campaign for Congress. Thorne died in a private plane crash during the campaign and Foley spoke at the funeral.
The son had spoken with Foley during the gays-in-the-military debate, but the conversations were cryptic. He didn't hold back in 1996. "I said, how could you vote against me, my family, your own self- interest?" Thorne-Begland recalled. He said Foley responded, "I could never compare any relationship I have ever had to the nature of my mother and father's relationship."
'One of the worst-kept secrets'
Deeply attached to his family -- his mother and sister played active roles in his many campaigns -- Foley cited his father's diagnosis with prostate cancer as the reason he abandoned a Senate bid in 2003. But the reality was, in a statewide election, that Foley's barely disguised homosexuality made him vulnerable to a conservative primary challenge.
Following a May 2003 local alternative newspaper report, headlined, "Why won't U.S. Congressman Mark Foley just say that he's gay?" the congressman tried to cordon off his personal life. He asserted that "elected officials, even those who run for the United States Senate, must have some level of privacy."
Foley's orientation was widely known across his district, and most voters apparently didn't care. He was reelected to a sixth term in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote, against nominal Democratic opposition.
Local Republican Sal Abruscato said he'd suspected for years that Foley was gay. "It's been around for a long time. It's one of the worst-kept secrets. I didn't care," the 42-year-old detective said.
Some voters were repelled. Joseph Hubbard, 49, who runs two golf courses in Foley's district, said he had attended a dinner at a local Baptist church with the lawmaker a few years back. He liked him -- but was dismayed about a year ago when he was told by a friend that Foley is gay. "Being a Republican and all, that's not kind of our agenda," Hubbard said.
But Foley's winning personality earned him broad support, including from Democrats such as constituent Barbara Yaffe, a retired schoolteacher. "Here was a man we thought was above average," Yaffe said. "He had a wonderful outlook on life and he did a lot of things -- only to find out he's all too human."
Staff writers Peter Whoriskey and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report. Whoriskey reported from Florida.
