Foley's Farewell Comments to departing 2001-02 Page Class(Cong. Record)

[Divernan]

These comments are from the June 6, 2002 Congressional Record (House), pp. H3278-H3283.
Titled, Farewell to Departing 2001-2002 Page Class. The Speaker pro tempore, under a previous order of the House, recognized Shimkus of Illinois (chairman of the Page Board), who called all the pages down to sit in the first two rows. Shimkus thanked and praised them, then yielded floor to Maryland Rep. Hoyer, Kolbe of Arizona, Millender-McDonald of California, and
FOLEY OF FLORIDA, Morella of Maryland, & Jones of Ohio.

Here are Foley's comments:

www.washingtonwatchdog.org/environmental_justice/documents/cr/02/jn/06/cr06jn02-89.html

Mr. SHIMKUS. I thank my colleague.
Now SOMEONE WHO SPENDS A LOT OF TIME WITH YOU ALSO, (EMPHASIS ADDED)
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), would like to say a thank you.

Mr. FOLEY. I warn 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.
First, I want all of you to salute two people that I know at times
were tough on you. They are taskmasters, they are disciplinarians; but
they love you in an incredibly personal way. I would like all of the
pages to clap for Ms. Sampson and Ms. Ivester, your supervisors.
Ms. Sampson is on the back rail. She does not like to come too close
here because she may cry, too; and she does not want any of the kids
before you depart on Saturday to see her being a vulnerable person. It
is true.
I hear so much laughter here and I am glad that there is laughter,
because this is a wonderful time of your life. Every time we celebrate
the departure of a page class, we remember your first day here and, of
course, we are here at your last. You came in very shy and meek and
very polite and for the most part you have remained polite, but no
longer shy and meek. You have taken on your respective roles as junior
Members of Congress and oftentimes I get a kick when I walk by the back
row, Mr. Foley, please mention the pages so our parents will hear us on
C-SPAN. The nice thing about today is you are on C-SPAN. And this is
recorded. And you will get to see this replayed. And you will get to
see your faces now assembling as if you were Members of Congress.
Some probably cannot wait to leave and get back and see your best
friends and loved ones and some are anguishing about your departure.
Mary Kate Leonard was on the back row crying. I asked why. She said,
``I'm losing my best friend, Rachel.''

<[Page H3281>]

I said, ``Really? Where's Rachel?"
``Oh, Rachel is a Republican page.''
I said, ``Oh, you are all bipartisan, too, huh?'' Because Mary Kate
is a Democrat, which shows how friendships can cross an aisle and cross
ideological divide. So I asked Rachel to come from the cloakroom, and
she thought I was kidding, to join her friend who was crying and I
said, ``I can't let her cry alone. You have to be out here to be part
of this.'' Now I have got you both crying and I am starting to well up.
I have got a lot of other stories. Of course, Christopher made sure I
came out of the cloakroom to see that his mother and family were
sitting up in the gallery this morning as I quietly mentioned to him,
``Remember, we're not allowed to gesture to the gallery.'' He said,
``Oh, just wave to her, so she knows I'm important.'' He is important
and she is above us now.
Of course we have got several Jasons, a few Laurens. Adam, thank you
for the graduation announcement. 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.

Patty Mack, of course, also known as Patrick McDonald, when he said,
``Mr. Foley, who made you say that?'' I said, ``I made it up myself.
I'm Irish. I get it.'' Fabulous young man. This is not made to make fun
of him or anyone else.
The tag team of Dominic and Hilary. Who will forget their exuberance
coming in the room? Bubbly, excited, cheerful. Of course Jordan and
Eddie. Eddie's mother I met today. They are from Florida. He is a
constituent and hopefully a future voter of mine if I choose to run
statewide, so Eddie will be my next best friend.
(NOTE: HERE FOLEY REFERS TO HAVING THE PAGES BID ON HAVING LUNCH WITH HIM!)
And, of course, Melanie, and finally John Eunice. John was the
highest bidder on lunch with Mark Foley. Maybe you all do not know this
story, but John had paid considerable sums to dine with me. I had
offered to take the winning bidder to lunch in the Members' dining
room. Then I heard how much John Eunice paid. And I said, ``John, there
is no way in the world after you committed so much money to have lunch
with me that I would dare take you downstairs to eat in the Members'
dining room.'' I said, ``Where do you want to go?'' He says, without
reservation, ``Morton's.'' I said, ``Morton's? Like in Morton's
Steakhouse?'' He said, ``Oh, would that be too much?'' I said, ``Oh,
no, we'll go.'' I said, ``Call your mother, get permission, make sure
she notifies the Clerk and we will go to Morton's.'' And so we
proceeded to cruise down in my BMW to Morton's. And all of this story
is meant to make you all feel jealous that you were not the high
bidders. So we went to Morton's, and I do not know where you all went.
I have a lot of other names here, but I do not want to go through the
litany of lists, Nickie and Tim sitting in front and others. This has
been an incredible year. This has been a year you will remember for the
rest of your lives. When I was in fourth grade, President John Kennedy
was assassinated. I remember kneeling in prayer for our Nation and for
our President. I was so scared, because I had never witnessed something
so traumatic. And on the 11th, and I think the gentleman from Arizona
(Mr. Kolbe) said this best, we were all scared as Members of Congress.
We were frightened for our Nation. And what tenacity you showed and
what leadership you proved by staying here in this Capitol. I am afraid
if I was your age I may have run home. That speaks volumes about the
people you are. That speaks volumes of your parents and your
grandparents. It speaks of the kind of love they have given you, the
kind of time they spent with you to make you the incredible human
beings you are.
God has blessed this Nation more than I can tell you and given us the
chance to succeed beyond our wildest dreams. I barely graduated from
high school, and I did not go to college. I am a proud Member of this
great institution because I kept trying. I never gave up and never gave
in to the instincts to be lazy or run for cover. You all have proven
without a doubt that you are not only courageous Americans but
wonderful young people. Cherish your youth, cherish this experience,
but above all cherish your families. Let them know how much you
appreciate them giving you this chance. And let them know how much you
appreciate their love to make you the people you are. I was not going
to do this because I am on C-SPAN now.
To the Page Board, as well, and to all the people that make up this
fine institution, from the police officer you see in the morning and
you see at night as you are entering your dorm, to the people that help
keep the buildings clean and operating, the elevator operators, the
people that serve you in the cafeteria, the people that stand behind us
and work countless hours listening to us babble, the people that have
made up the core of this program, I salute you and I thank you and I
hope you will join me too in saluting everyone in the page program that
has made this year a resounding, phenomenal learning experience and
success for you.
God bless you all.

[robinlynne]

1. "I barely graduated from high school and I did not go to college.'...

[liberal N proud]

2. Taskmasters? Disciplinarians?

but they love you in an incredibly personal way

[tridim]

3. Guaranteed someone has S&M pics of Foley

Sounds like he likes the leather and whips. Ewww...

[Hav]

4. .

Well, what to say about it. He was not evil, but he has some serious issues that need to be dealt with.
He obviously became too invested in the program, too emotional, saw everyone as a close friend and believed that it was a mutual feeling.
Nothing changes the fact that his actions were way beyond any responsible behaviour.

I think feeling so close to the young people also explains for me his way to communicate with them. He seemed to behave like a teenager himself. Not only the way he typed but also the content, the way he expressed himself. He probably wanted to be one of them and he wanted to be around them. He definately should seek help.