Republicans Huddled for "Damage Control" before Foley Story Broke
By Paul Kiel - November 2, 2006, 5:05 PM
In the days before ABC News first reported Mark Foley's "over friendly" emails toward a congressional page, top Republican political staffers huddled with Foley in conference calls, helping him handle political fallout from story, The New York Daily News reports.
In other words, when top Republicans learned of Foley's inappropriate emails, they appear to have circled the wagons and helped Foley himself spin the story, rather than alert the House Page Board or any other responsible authority to look into the matter.
Rep. Tom Reynolds' (R-NY) communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Carl Forti, was on the calls, along with Reynold's chief of staff Kirk Fordham and Foley's top staffers. A source told the Daily News the calls were focused on "damage control"; Forti confirmed that the calls took place.
The Republican leadership, of course, has been under fire for not dealing more aggressively with Foley after the emails came to light months earlier (there's been no evidence that top Republicans knew about the sexually explicit IMs turned up after ABC News' initial story). This is actually an example of top Republicans helping Foley deal with fallout from the emails.
An open question from the story is whether Reynolds, who's locked in a tight reelection battle due in part to his role in Foleygate, was involved in the damage control effort -- which involved two of his top staffers. He refused to answer questions for the piece, citing his testimony before the House ethics committee.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001923.phpExclusive: NRCC's Foley "Damage Control"
Two senior aides to National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds participated in “damage control” conference calls concerning correspondence between Congressman Mark Foley and a former congressional page -- two days before the scandal became public, and earlier than previously reported.
NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti and Reynolds then chief-of-staff Kirk Fordham both took part in the first call the evening of Wednesday, September 27, and one call the next day, Forti and other sources familiar with the call confirmed. Forti's involvement and the NRCC's role in the run-up to the Foley scandal add another link between the disgraced former congressman and Reynolds, who has said he knew only indirectly of questionable emails, and that he reported them to his House superiors. They also reflect another moment at which House GOP leadership was aware of concerns about Foley and pages.
Foley resigned Friday, September 29, soon after ABCNews presented him with a sexually explicit instant message correspondence with a page.
But ABCNews first approached the Foley campaign that Tuesday, with more ambiguous correspondence in which Foley asked the former page for his photograph(.pdf).
The conference call, described by a Hill staffer familiar with its contents as focused on “damage control,” also included Foley’s Florida-based political consultant, Richard Johnston, and his communications director, Jason Kello, according to two people familiar with the call. The participants were unaware of the explicit instant messages that would force Foley's resignation two days later.
Foley’s aides were “seeking
advice and keeping him abreast of” the ABCNews inquiry, said the Hill staffer.
http://blogs.nydailynews.com/dailypolitics/archives/2006/11/exclusive_nrccs.php
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