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Rodney Alexander: Our Congressman On November 7, we'll also decide whether or not Rodney Alexander, the Republicrat from Quitman, should be reelected. Rodney's been in the news a lot lately. First, there was the bizarre story about how he fired a secretary for sending love letters to convicted murderer and media darling Scott Peterson. (There are a number of questions here: Why would Alexander go public with a personnel decision? Did he fire this woman and then call up the media? "Boy, have I got a story for you!"). And now, Rodney's back in the news again. It seems that one of his Congressional pages, a sixteen-year-old kid from Monroe, got creeped out when Congressman Mark Foley began sending him suggestive e-mails. Foley initially said he was concerned about the kid after Hurricane Katrina. (Because, as you know, Monroe is located right on the Gulf Coast). But once the story broke, other interns started talking about their encounters with the Florida Republican, providing additional e-mails and instant message transcripts so dirty that even ABC wouldn't publish them. Alexander was told about the e-mails. (Hey, Rodney, one of your colleagues is probably harassing young male Congressional pages!). Now, I ask, what would you do if you knew that a colleague was sending inappropriate e-mails to sixteen-year-old boys? It appears that Mr. Alexander, who switched over the the GOP after milking the Louisiana Democratic Party, understood the political implications of such a scandal, and instead of waving the red flag, he called up his buddy, Representative Tom Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, an organization committed to electing Republicans. (Incidentally, Kirk Fordham, Reynold's Chief of Staff, just resigned about two hours ago. Why do you think he felt pressured to resign?). Congressman Alexander's excuses are interesting-- the boy's family didn't want to press charges, so he didn't think it was a big deal. Yet, it was a big enough deal to call up the NRCC and alert them. So let me get this straight: You find out your secretary has been sending love letters to Scott Peterson, and your first inclination is to contact the media. But when your former page, an underage boy, tells you about the creepy e-mails he received from a Congressman, you contact the NRCC (I believe this is called "damage control"). Something doesn't add up here, and already, members of Congress are calling for Alexander's resignation. On a Related Note: Foley's Follies Way back on September 12, 1998, Kenneth Starr, whose investigation into President Clinton's Whitewater real estate dealings somehow turned into a story about an intern, published a work of erotic non-fiction known as The Starr Report. Members of Congress were disgusted and disturbed. One of those who seemed most disturbed was Florida Republican Mark Foley, who offered this now ironic analysis to the St. Petersburg Times. Quoting from the article:

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."
Source: MGB blog, St. Peterburg Times