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October 17, 2006

Juicy Gossip About Mark Foley

I know what I'm about to tell you is pure speculation, but I'm a woman; therefore, I have a license to gossip. And this one is just too good not to pass on. Sanho Tree at Counterpunch is speculating that perhaps the Republicans sat on the Mark Foley scandal because they were able to use the information they had against him to win a last-minute change in his vote on Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) – the key swing vote, as it turns out.

On the night of the vote, President Bush had called Foley to pressure him to change his anti-CAFTA position. The South Florida Congressman was not only under pressure from the White House, but also from the House Republican Leadership to support the bill. But Foley received huge campaign contributions from the Florida sugar lobby, which bitterly opposed CAFTA and Foley had loyally followed his benefactor's wishes in previous votes. That he would flip his position under pressure raises some serious questions.

It was a very curious turn-around for Foley.

Just a month before the vote, he told the House Ways and Means Committee, "I have heard some of my colleagues say we can't turn our backs on people in Guatemala. Well, I can't turn my back on people in South Bay and Canal Point, Lewiston, and LaBelle, whose lives are closely linked to this industry. Not the big growers, not the thousand-acre plantations, but the mom and pop [growers] who have 50 acres, 100 acres in production. That is all they have."

It's all very interesting, particularly in light of the fact that Republicans knew about Foley as early as 2001, by some accounts. And it certainly wouldn't be the first time prominent politicians were sexually blackmailed.

Posted by Becky at October 17, 2006 09:16 AM