Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, who claimed he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic clergyman when he was a teen, will reveal the man’s identity to the Archdiocese of Miami, his attorney said Tuesday.
No criminal charges can be filed because the statute of limitations on sexual assault expired long ago, but the archdiocese requested information about Foley’s accusations, attorney Gerald Richman said.
"We’re talking about issues that happened 36 to 38 years ago," Richman said. "This is all part of the healing process for Mark Foley. He thinks it’s important to go ahead and bring this information out and hope and encourage other people who have been similarly abused to go ahead and come forward."
Richman said that when details are released they would deflate critics who have accused Foley, 52, of making up the abuse allegation shortly after he was confronted last month with sexually explicit electronic messages he had sent to teenage male pages.
"It’s going to be very clear in the coming days that it is a fact as opposed to any possible allegations that it was a fantasy or something made up for political purposes," Richman said.…
I presume that that last comment is aimed at some mythical person who accused Mark Foley of making up the part about being himself the target of a sexual predator – a Priest. I don’t recall anyone doubting that his story was true. What we questioned was his bringing it up the day after he resigned and fled Washington because his own chronic sexual predatory behavior with Congressional Pages was revealed.
Almost all sexual predators are former victims. Most criminals had disasterous childhoods. There comes a point, however, when one passes over the sympathy line – and Foley’s way on the other side. Had he, as a Congressman who worked on a task force to help stop Internet sexual predators, come forward and revealed his own victimization, we would have all understood, been sympathetic, and seen his adult work as driven by a special knowledge. But coming out with his alcoholism and his own adolescent seduction after the whistle had been blown on his years of preying on Congressional Pages hardly generates much sympathy – at least not with me.
Maybe he didn’t break any laws. Maybe he was very careful about staying over the age of consent. Maybe he’ll get sober and be helped by some kind of Catholic Counselling. Good for him. And maybe, "He thinks it’s important to go ahead and bring this information out and hope and encourage other people who have been similarly abused to go ahead and come forward" is sincere, though extremely ironic. But it doesn’t change the fact that he behaved in a manner that was unbecoming to a U.S. Congressman, or any adult in a position of authority with children or adolescents. And it doesn’t change anything about how this was handled by the Republicans in power in the House of Representatives. 
And it doesn’t change anything about the charge that they put partisan politics ahead of both protection of children and upholding the rules and regulations of the Congress.
As we say in the South, "Foley a victim? That dog ain’t gonna hunt…"
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