US sex e-mail scandal deepens

WASHINGTON – With Republican leaders scrambling to contain the political fallout from the latest Washington sex scandal mere weeks before congressional elections, the FBI is examining Republican Congressman Mark Foley’s e-mail exchanges with teenage boys to see if laws were broken.

The FBI “is conducting an assessment to see if there’s been a violation of federal law,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said on Sunday, declining to elaborate. Foley, a congressman from Florida, abruptly quit Congress on Friday after reports surfaced that he had sent sexually charged electronic messages to boys working as congressional pages.Pages are teenagers who work temporarily as messengers in Congress.The disclosure sent House Republicans into damage control mode amid charges by Democrats that some House leaders may have known for months about Foley’s inappropriate overtures toward the young pages.The Republicans are working to maintain their majority in Congress in November 7 elections.House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican, in a letter sent on Sunday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asked the Justice Department to “conduct an investigation of Mr Foley’s conduct with current and former House pages.”White House counsel Dan Bartlett called the allegations involving Foley shocking, while Democrats demanded that investigators determine whether Republican leaders tried to cover up Foley’s actions for political reasons.”The attorney general should open a full-scale investigation immediately,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said in a statement, including whether Republican leaders “knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a congressional seat this election year.”Foley’s district is heavily Republican, but now may be won by a Democrat.Republicans are struggling to maintain their House majority in the upcoming election.FBI cyber sleuths are looking into the text of some of the Foley messages, checking to see how many e-mails and instant electronic messages were sent and how many computers were used, according to a law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.The FBI also was trying to determine if any of the teenagers who received messages are willing to cooperate with the investigation, the official said.Ironically, Foley, who is 52 and single, could be found to have violated a law that he helped to write as co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus.Nampa-APFoley, a congressman from Florida, abruptly quit Congress on Friday after reports surfaced that he had sent sexually charged electronic messages to boys working as congressional pages.Pages are teenagers who work temporarily as messengers in Congress.The disclosure sent House Republicans into damage control mode amid charges by Democrats that some House leaders may have known for months about Foley’s inappropriate overtures toward the young pages.The Republicans are working to maintain their majority in Congress in November 7 elections.House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican, in a letter sent on Sunday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asked the Justice Department to “conduct an investigation of Mr Foley’s conduct with current and former House pages.”White House counsel Dan Bartlett called the allegations involving Foley shocking, while Democrats demanded that investigators determine whether Republican leaders tried to cover up Foley’s actions for political reasons.”The attorney general should open a full-scale investigation immediately,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said in a statement, including whether Republican leaders “knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a congressional seat this election year.”Foley’s district is heavily Republican, but now may be won by a Democrat.Republicans are struggling to maintain their House majority in the upcoming election.FBI cyber sleuths are looking into the text of some of the Foley messages, checking to see how many e-mails and instant electronic messages were sent and how many computers were used, according to a law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.The FBI also was trying to determine if any of the teenagers who received messages are willing to cooperate with the investigation, the official said.Ironically, Foley, who is 52 and single, could be found to have violated a law that he helped to write as co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus.Nampa-AP