Republicans Huddled for “Damage Control” before Foley Story BrokeIn the days before ABC News first reported Mark Foley’s “over friendly” emails toward a congressional page, top Republican political staffers huddled with Foley in conference calls, helping him handle political fallout from story, The New York Daily News reports.
In other words, when top Republicans learned of Foley’s inappropriate emails, they appear to have circled the wagons and helped Foley himself spin the story, rather than alert the House Page Board or any other responsible authority to look into the matter.
Rep. Tom Reynolds’ (R-NY) communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Carl Forti, was on the calls, along with Reynold’s chief of staff Kirk Fordham and Foley’s top staffers. A source told the Daily News the calls were focused on “damage control”; Forti confirmed that the calls took place.
The Republican leadership, of course, has been under fire for not dealing more aggressively with Foley after the emails came to light months earlier (there’s been no evidence that top Republicans knew about the sexually explicit IMs turned up after ABC News’ initial story). This is actually an example of top Republicans helping Foley deal with fallout from the emails.
An open question from the story is whether Reynolds, who’s locked in a tight reelection battle due in part to his role in Foleygate, was involved in the damage control effort — which involved two of his top staffers. He refused to answer questions for the piece, citing his testimony before the House ethics committee.