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SEIFFE:  A Masterful Plan?

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

By Ralf Seiffe

Something about the events surrounding the outing of Congressman Mark Foley doesn’t add up for me.  Last week, ABC News exposed sexually explicit electronic messages between the now resigned Congressman and a young man who was a Capitol Hill page at the time these messages were sent in 2003.  Much has been made of the “e-mails” but consider this: there are two sets of electronic messages in the story.  One set of actual e-mails were inappropriate but not actionable while another set of instant messages are damning.  What if someone came into possession of both the e-mails and the instant messages and recognized that a scam was possible by selective leaking?  The timing of the news reports and the reaction by Republicans suggests that this is a possibility.  

First, it’s apparent from the entire sordid record that Foley had to go.  By resigning, he saved the Congress the embarrassment of expelling him.  That he would resign was perfectly predictable given the GOP’s recent history--remember Packwood, Livingstone and Gingrich’s behavior after their “scandals.”  Resignations are much more newsworthy than suspicion and by “doing the right thing”--as previous resignations made perfectly predictable--Foley made this a huge story.  But also remember the Studds scandal--also about children--Barney Franks and William Jefferson, he of the enviable freezer. Democrats seem to have learned how to “tough it out” and in some ways, attenuate their scandals.  

We know the really offensive instant messages were transmitted in 2003.  IM’s are ephemeral in the sense that they disappear into the “ether” unless the receiving party saves them.  The very fact that they are now available means someone did save them.  They are lurid on their face and, one would think that anyone seeing them would take immediate action to protect the child in Foley’s sights.  

If the Congressional Leadership did see these instant messages before this scandal blew up--and did nothing--they are enablers of pedophilia and are just as culpable.  Reports also indicate that the leadership did face the problem before last Friday when the young man’s parents complained about Foley many months ago.  If the parents were involved, one would think they would have insisted that the offensive instant messages be exposed to law enforcement at that time. And, even if they didn’t want to involve the cops, by exposing the instant messages to the right people in Congress, they should put them on notice about Foley’s behavior.  What then, though?  By exposing Foley last summer, the page who wanted his privacy would also have been revealed.  

But, what if someone else, with an agenda other than protecting the Congress’s pages, got possession of those instant messages and put them away for use at a more strategic time; near an election, for example.

Now, imagine that the same conspirator also knew of the email traffic.  They might have learned of this when trolling through the Congressional e-mail system that used to be open to all members.  While the email system has apparently been fixed, further imagine that knowing these two sets of messages existed, the miscreant had only the emails exposed. 

These emails are the communications Denny Hastert says he saw.  These are the “overly friendly” emails, automatically preserved in the House system, that asked for the birthday and for the picture of the page in question.  From reports, Hastert took appropriate action given the troubling, but not actionable emails by referring the matter to Representative Shimkus, the official in charge of the page program.  

As this occurred, the architect of the scam would then let things settle down for a while, knowing that he had a different set of messages that were far more damaging.  By letting the issue taper off, the plotter would let things take their course. 

After an appropriate time, on the last day of the Congressional session, for example, it would be time to spring the trap.  Releasing the highly damaging instant messages to the media would unleash a real scandal and create the problem that Hastert et al now face.  Almost no one would believe that the Speaker had not seen both sets of messages and that would create suspicion of a cover-up, a far worse problem than the discovery of Foley’s misdeeds.

Hastert knows what he saw.  If he saw only the emails, he’s right to bring the full weight of the FBI into the controversy to find out who protected the disgraced Florida Congressman.  By keeping those instant messages private since 2003, Foley was protected to commit any number of similar crimes and I take Hastert at his word that he saw only the e-mails. Not the instant messages.  On the other hand, if the Speaker did see the instant messages prior to the ABC News report, he should read today’s Washington Times and take their advice to heart.  

This scandal has serious legs and the word is that more Congressional pages are coming forward to report questionable behavior by other lawmakers.  At the start of this latest outrage in Congress however, this scandal seems too well-timed and too salacious to be anything but a masterful plan.  

© 2006 Ralf Seiffe

Ralf Seiffe advises business start-ups and product launches from Chicago, Illinois and is a political analyst and columnist for the Illinois Leader and Illinois Review.

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