Who Protected the Perverted Congressman? What Did Rep. Shimkus Know about Mark Foley?

By Peter LaBarbera

Washington insiders have known about Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL)’s homosexuality for a long time, but I would suspect that most of his constituents have been in the dark about it. Years ago in D.C., I once tried to discourage a Foley run for U.S. Senate by calling his office and asking: 1) if he is a homosexual; and 2) if his constituents have a right to know about it. A top aide came on the line and told me that the staff does not answer questions about the Congressman’s “sexual orientation.”

I wonder, picking up on my friend Cliff Kincaid’s theme below here: why did senior GOP leaders protect Foley’s homosexual secret? How many knew about his predatory behavior towards teenaged boys; when did they find out and why didn’t they do anything about it? Were they going to keep protecting the dirty secret as he announced a run for U.S. Senate?

Is “winning” as a Republican now more important than protecting children? Is it more important than letting a representative’s constituents know about his immoral behaviors, which of course influence his votes (Foley was pro-“gay”)? We need answers from House Speaker Denny Hastert and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Illinois), who chairs the House Page Board.

And isn’t it telling most of the tiny number of homosexual male U.S. Congressmen have been caught in sex scandals–remember Barney Frank, who let his male lover, a hustler, run a prostitution ring out of his D.C. apartment? And Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds, who had sex with a 17-year-old boy and then turned his back on fellow House Members during the censure vote against him? And Bob Bauman (R-Md.), who in 1980 was charged with soliciting a 16-year-old boy for sex?

Let’s see: three homosexual Congressmen involved in sexual seductions of minor boys–ages 16, 17, and 17 (Foley). And yet homosexual activists ridicule anyone who suggests there is a predatory or pedophilic component to male homosexuality….

Of course, straight Congressmen, too have been involved in plenty of scandals in D.C., including with underage girls: but at least when Dan Crane was busted in the same 1983 Congressional Page scandal as Studds, he tearfully apologized and was defeated in his re-election bid. The defiant Studds said the relationship with a boy almost 20 years his junior was “consensual” and nobody’s business and he was re-elected five more times!

You can read Cliff Kincaid’s column, “Who Protected the Perverted Congressman,” by clicking HERE.