[Contributed by Working Assets]

Americans were shocked to learn this past weekend that a United States Representative, Mark Foley (R-FL), had been sending sexually-explicit e-mails and instant messages to 15- and 16-year-old boys participating in the House Page (internship for high school students) program. Rep. Foley -- who, ironically, co-chaired the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus in the House -- has now resigned and checked himself into a clinic for rehabilitation of alcoholism.

But the members of the House leadership -- foremost among them Dennis Hastert -- were not shocked, because they already knew.

It's become quite clear in recent days that several other high-ranking members of the House of Representatives knew about Mr. Foley's despicable (and possibly illegal) behavior -- and took no steps to stop it. At least five prominent Representatives (Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL; Majority Leader John Boehner, R-OH; Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-NY; Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-LA; and Rep. John Shimkus, R-IL) have admitted that they knew of the initial set of inappropriate emails from Foley to a 16-year-old former House page.

Could it be that the House leadership cared more about protecting one of their own than protecting the safety of their teenage pages?

It has also been revealed that the FBI had copies of these email messages in July -- yet failed to act. Why? Was the Bush administration more concerned with protecting a powerful ally in Congress than with protecting children?

We need to get to the bottom of this matter immediately. The best disinfectant in a situation like this is sunshine -- and lots of it. Who knew what, and when? What laws (such as those prohibiting the solicitation of sexual acts from a minor) may have been broken, and who may have failed to report such cases to the appropriate authorities for prosecution? The American people have a right to know.

Congress rushed back into special session to intervene in the case of Terry Schiavo. They should interrupt their campaigning, return to Washington, and insist on an immediate full investigation and disclosure.

Call to action:
Click Here to Send an Email to Your Representative to return to Washington immediately for a special session of Congress to investigate the possible cover-up of Representative Mark Foley's sexual-predatory behavior.

The Los Angeles Times is now reporting that Rep. Foley's behavior was anything but secret on Capitol Hill.

You know... Oprah's main issue this year is to get laws put into place to truly bust and seriously convict child predators. I would love to see her jump all over this Foley situation.... she is just slightly influencial, after all.

Labels: activism, CyberActivism, Foley, GOP, petitions, political, political watch, politics, scandal