Former
congressman Mark Foley of Florida told House pages in warm
farewell speeches over the years that he took ''a special
interest in each and every one'' of them, identifying
many of the youngsters by name and thanking them for
their service. Foley, who resigned Friday after being
questioned about sexually explicit e-mails to male ex-pages,
gave the speeches during traditional June ceremonies
honoring pages in 2001, 2002, and 2004, according to
the Congressional Record.
The comments show
a friendly familiarity with some of the teenagers, who
wear navy blue uniforms, open doors, and hand-deliver
messages for the lawmakers. In a June 6, 2002,
send-off, Foley warned ''all of you not to cry in
front of me, please, so I can get through this very
important day with you without shedding tears as
well.''
''Of course we
have got several Jasons, a few Laurens. Adam, thank you
for the graduation announcement,'' Foley said in the 2002
speech. ''I sent you a handwritten note, and I was
actually going to put some money in it as a graduation
present.
''Then I realized
he would tell all of you, and then I would get hundreds
of graduation announcements. So I chose not to. I hope the
handwritten note will suffice for your scrapbook,'' he
said.
He described
taking one of the young men who was the highest bidder in
''lunch with Mark Foley'' to Morton's Steakhouse in his BMW
and thanked the pages for their tenacity and
leadership during the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. ''I am afraid if I was your age I may have run
home. That speaks volumes about the people you are,'' Foley
said.
In a June 7,
2001, speech, Republican representative John Shimkus of
Illinois, the head of the page board, referred to Foley as
someone ''who I know has a vested interest in taking
time out to make sure he talks with you and visits
with you and he gets to know you.... That is a
personal trait that you should emulate. He has been
successful, and I know it is from his heart.''
''I do take a
special interest in each and every one of you,'' Foley said
after taking the podium. ''You never know when you may run
for president in the United States, so I may need some
help in a lot of different districts,'' Foley said,
adding that he was ''just kidding.''
He told the teens
that ''you have had to take some kidding, some
grilling, some jokes, and I will not get into it. You all
know who have been the subject of my inquiry.... I did
not know they made boots that size. How much hair gel
have you used today, Robert? Ryan was the other one. I
did not recognize that color hair when you left here on
Friday. I will leave that name off. I did not know you
wore an earring. Does your dad know, or mom? No, not
really.''
In a June 3,
2004, speech, Foley told the graduates he hoped some would
become ''teachers, police officers, firefighters, members of
the military, nurses, veterans, whatever your chosen
profession.... A few may go on to be congressmen,
congresswomen, governors, senators. In fact, in this
very room may be the future president of the United
States.'' (AP)
