Posted by
Bruce Armstrong on Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:46:39 AM
A story in today's New York Times links the "gay rights" group Human Rights Campaign with the publication of improper e-mails between former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) and a former Congressional page. The story,
Rights Group Fires Publisher of Foley E-Mail, does not identify the former HRC staffer by name but refers to him as "a junior staffer hired last month to help mobilize the organization's members in Michigan.
I hope the MSM will dig deeper into the timing of the publication of the e-mails on the former HRC staffer's blog and his hiring by the HRC. (The blog is linked in the NYT story above; I won't link and give it the traffic.) Several questions come to mind:
- When did the HRC become aware of the existence of the e-mails?
- Did the HRC provide the e-mails to this individual, or vice versa?
- Did anyone at HRC advise the staffer on the timing of the e-mail release?
- Was the blogger hired by the HRC as after-the-fact "compensation" for publishing the e-mails?
- Or did the HRC hire the person with the understanding that the staffer would anonymously start a blog to embarrass and in the process "out" Rep. Foley?
Mind you, this doesn't give a free pass to former Rep. Foley for his egregious misconduct and errors in judgment. Neither does it give a free pass to Reps. Hastert, Boehner, Blount, Reynolds, or former Rep. DeLay. I still think Hastert et al. should have resigned their leadership posts, or at least called a caucus meeting and asked for a vote of confidence.
But the involvement of the HRC and one of their staffers makes me wonder: Were they really worried about stopping predator(s), or just outing a Republican?