Child sex scandal rocks US Republicans

UNITED STATES: A US Republican leader said he had been "duped" by a lawmaker whose explicit e-mails to teenage male aides have embroiled the party in an embarrassing sex scandal just weeks before crucial national elections.

Hoping to fend off accusations that Republican leaders had known for some time of Republican lawmaker Mark Foley's overtures to young congressional pages, House Speaker Dennis Hastert branded his actions "vile" and "repugnant."

"He deceived the good men and women in organizations around the country with whom he worked to strengthen our child predator laws," Hastert said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I have known him for all the years he's served in this House, and he deceived me, too," Hastert said of the veteran Florida lawmaker.

As Foley checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation center in the face of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe, the White House also moved to distance itself from the scandal, which threatens the already tenuous hold on Congress of President George W. Bush's Republican Party in November 7 congressional polls.

"The House has to clean up the mess to the extent that there's a mess. The president is not responsible for going back and conducting his own personal investigation on this," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

"These are things that happen, and they need to be addressed and the individuals responsible," Snow added.

Foley, a representative for 12 years with a name for defending the rights of children against sexual predators and campaigning against child pornography, unexpectedly announced his resignation from the House Friday after some of the sexually explicit messages were reported on ABC television.

ABC reported that a former page complained about e-mails he received from Foley, who co-chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

On Monday Florida television station WPBF said that Foley faxed them a letter saying that "events" leading to his resignation had "crystallized recognition" of alcohol and emotional problems.

"I strongly believe that I am an alcoholic and have accepted the need for immediate treatment for alcoholism and related behavioral problems," said the letter, posted by WPBF on its website. Foley faces an FBI investigation into whether his e-mail and instant messaging exchanges with a 16-year-old male page, as well as earlier communications with other young aides, had violated any laws.

The investigation could ironically eventually see him prosecuted under the very child-sex laws he helped to write.

For the Republican Party, though, the scandal left Foley's once "safe" seat in Congress vulnerable to capture by the Democrats and threatened to spill over into other congressional races. Opposition Democrats are hoping to grab control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or even both congressional chambers in the November elections.

The Democrats accused Republican leaders of covering up Foley's behavior after Hastert earlier admitted that his party had been aware of an "over-friendly" e-mail sent by Foley in 2005.

Democratic House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi Sunday alleged the Republican leadership violated the trust of parents who send young children to work in Congress as pages "when they were made aware of the Internet stalking of an underage page by Mr. Foley and covered it up for six months to a year."

Washington, Tuesday, AFP