Redemption of Mark Foley: Ex-lawmaker makes a comeback

Three years ago, Mark Foley stood before TV cameras, acknowledged his long-hidden homosexuality and confessed to sending sexually suggestive e-mail and instant messages to teenage male congressional pages.

Vilified from coast to coast as an example of a Republican Congress that had given in to self-indulgence and corruption, he resigned. That ended a career in public office that spanned three decades, including five House terms.

He has stayed largely under the radar since.

But today, backed by an established family name and longstanding popularity in Palm Beach County, Foley is moving back into public life - though probably not elective politics.

Despite the distasteful nature of the scandal, local Republicans seem ready for that.

Foley is again getting involved in philanthropic causes and appearing at community groups, locals say. His highest-profile move is hosting a radio talk show on a small Palm Beach radio station.

He was known as a moderate Republican, but Foley's return is being aided by contacts with party conservatives, including fellow Palm Beach resident Rush Limbaugh.

"People are saying, 'Guess who's back?' " said Robert Watson, a political scientist at Lynn University in Boca Raton and long-time observer of the Palm Beach County political scene. "He's asking organizations if they're looking for a speaker, he's out and about."

'Darkest moment'

In an interview with the Tribune this week, Foley said it's unlikely he'll try to return to elective office - though in true political style, he never said "never."

"I'm not plotting some miraculous comeback," he said, "but I'm going to try my best where practical to be involved in the dialogue.

"I've been supported and embraced by people - not to be seeking office again, but doing what I did before and being involved in the fabric of society."

The talk show, "Inside the Mind of Mark Foley," focusing on politics and public issues, started Tuesday on Palm Beach's WSVU, 960 AM.

Foley opened the first show discussing his scandal, calling it "the darkest moment in my entire life," and saying he "acted egregiously."

"Everything that I felt I had worked for for 30 years in public life came crashing down," he said.
Now, he said, "I want to move on with my life and I'm excited about being given the chance to."

Show producer Joe Raineri said the informational value of the show outweighed the potential controversy.

"Who better than a former congressman who sat on the Ways and Means Committee to answer issues like health care?" he said. "He brings an insight into Washington that you are not going to hear any place else."

"The beautiful thing about radio," Raineri added, "is if you don't like Mark Foley, you don't have to listen."

No evidence

Brian Crowley, a veteran political reporter and now a public relations consultant in Palm Beach who has known Foley for years, said it seems natural to locals for Foley to be a public figure.

"He and his family have a very long history of community service in Palm Beach County, he said. "I think he feels a great deal of remorse and has been such a big part of the community for so many years he wants to be that again."

Foley's father, a school principal, and mother, an active Catholic Church volunteer, were well-known. Foley was the youngest Lake Worth City commissioner ever when he won the job in 1977 at age 23, Crowley said.

"Unlike many Congress members, this was a guy who came home from Washington nearly every weekend and worked the district," he said. "People here talk about the good things he's done. He gets tons of compliments on Facebook. I don't think he's a pariah."

He noted that Foley was stigmatized as a pedophile after the scandal, but locals are aware that FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigations found no evidence against him of sexual activity with pages.

His continued popularity showed at a recent health care town hall forum held by the Palm Beach County Republican Party when he was introduced by the party chairman - along with elected officials.

Foley got "a warm round of applause" from the crowd plus a friendly greeting a former colleague, Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar, said attendee and friend William Hinkle.

Paid the price

Watson, of Lynn University, said Foley's enormous popularity in the district, which won him elections with 70 percent to 80 percent of the vote, hasn't entirely evaporated.

Local Republicans agree, but aren't ready for Foley to take a public position.

"He has valuable knowledge that would enable him to work with a candidate or an issue group," said Palm Beach County Chairman Sid Dinerstein, "although I would not see him in any official capacity within the GOP.

"We all wish Mark well - he's paid for his mistakes," Dinerstein added. "Bad as his actions were, he did not commit a single crime."

Javier Manjarres, a local conservative GOP activist and blogger, published an interview with Foley last week, noting he "is still popular and loved by many of his friends and supporters in his former Congressional District as well as throughout Palm Beach."

Manjarres said Limbaugh approached their table at the popular night spot Pistache during the interview, bellowed a greeting to Foley and gave him a "warm bear hug."

A Limbaugh spokesman said Limbaugh and Foley aren't close friends, but are acquainted.

Foley told the Tribune he has been working in his former profession, commercial real estate, since leaving Congress.

When news about his radio show broke, he said, he got calls from Fox News, the "Today" show, Greta Van Susteren and MSNBC, all wanting to do interviews or film him in the broadcast booth.

He declined. "We weren't trying to bootstrap this into a national audience," he said. "I'm not trying to skyrocket back into public life."

Foley said he still has some $1.2 million in his campaign account - money he can contribute to other political causes or charity. He hasn't decided what to do with it.

Hinkle, a friend of Foley's for 25 years, doesn't rule out the prospect that Foley might run for office again. "I'm sure he'd love to serve" in a new Palm Beach congressional district, Hinkle said.

'Not hiding'

Crowley said Foley's homosexuality was widely known among Palm Beach political insiders for as much as a decade before the scandal - to almost everyone, except Foley's parents.

Crowley, then a reporter, learned of it in an off-the-record conversation with Foley in the 1990s. The Palm Beach Post, where he worked, "made a conscious decision from the very top that we weren't going to deal with that issue - it wasn't our job to 'out' people," Crowley said.

Since acknowledging his homosexuality, Foley said, "Without question, I now feel more comfortable. I'm not hiding."

But, he added, "I didn't ever hide" his pro-gay rights views. "I never tried to be an anti-gay legislator."
He said he wishes he'd had the courage to come out sooner, and that he's been in a committed relationship for 25 years.

"There was a fear factor, concern about my parents," plus his nephews and nieces, he said.

"Then, how does it affect the political franchise."

His father died shortly after the scandal broke.

When Foley briefly ran for the U.S. Senate in the 2004 election, reporters began asking about his sexual orientation. He dropped out, citing family reasons.

"There was a day during the campaign when part of me wanted to leap into the microphone and tell you all.

"But your staff says 'You can't, you can't, you'll never get through a primary,' " he said. "People don't realize that internal struggle."