Right from the start of his 12-year congressional career, onetime amateur thespian Mark Foley seemed blessed with a sense of timing that perfectly complemented his love of the limelight. In Washington the former congressman chanced to meet Hollywood celebrities who would later become his pals. In Palm Beach he parlayed his status as a member of Congress to mingle with high society while playing the role of debonair bachelor.
And on his first day as the U.S. representative from South Florida's 16th District, he was in the House as a clerk searched for someone to open the inaugural session.
Seizing the opportunity, Foley declared that he and other lawmakers had a "historic opportunity to bring trust back to this institution." That institution is now in turmoil after the curtain was lifted on the secret life that Foley worked hard to keep well out of the spotlight. Since the Republican from Lake Worth resigned his seat Sept.
29 after being confronted with salacious Internet messages he wrote to former congressional pages, he has said he was a closeted gay man, a furtive alcoholic and victim of sexual abuse, molested by a clergyman. "I went to see him in a play at the Lake Worth Playhouse once, and I didn't think he was very good," said Honey Duncan, who served with Foley on the Lake Worth Commission more than 25 years ago when he played a feckless father in Neil Simon's California Suite. "But I guess he is an actor.
He fooled us all." Now in a rehabilitation clinic, Foley is under investigation by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As next month's midterm elections near, there's concern the Foley scandal could cause the GOP to lose control of the House.
"I'm shocked and outraged by his behavior," said Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for Florida attorney general and a former colleague of Foley in the state House. "For the party this is certainly not a positive thing." Never hidden were Foley's ambition and desire for attention.
As his political career arced from the City Commission to the Florida Senate to the U.S. Congress, the affable Foley courted powerful friends, glommed onto Hollywood stars and arrived early to others' news conferences so he could figure out the camera angles that would put him on the evening news.
Articulate and energetic, he rarely missed a benefit or groundbreaking, sought out interviews and seemed willing to hold forth on almost everything. We knew, for example, that The Godfather was his favorite movie. We knew he drove a convertible BMW in Washington but also bought Sonny Bono's 1994 Jeep Wrangler after his congressional colleague died.
We knew what was on his I-Pod: Celine Dion, Miles Davis, and the Allman Brothers. What Foley didn't talk about publicly was his life as a gay man. Although Washington and South Florida insiders knew, many in the public did not learn he was gay until Foley's attorney, David Roth, announced it at a Monday news conference.
"Hiding was a big part of his life," Eric Johnson, who is openly gay and serves as chief of staff for U.S. Rep.
Robert Wexler, D- Boca Raton, said of Foley. "Secrets and lies beget secrets and lies." Born in Newton, Mass.
, Foley moved to Lake Worth with his family when he was 6 years old. He attended elementary school at Sacred Heart Church, started high school at Cardinal Newman, and graduated from Lake Worth High School, Class of 1973. Foley now says he was molested in his early teens by a clergyman.
Roth said Foley would not yet identify the offender, the church or even the religion. After attending Palm Beach Community College, Foley dropped out to open opened a restaurant, The Lettuce Patch. From there he made quick career stops as a caterer and in real estate before finding his calling in politics.
After four years on the City Commission as a Democrat, he lost a run for the County Commission, became a Republican, and then won election in 1990 to the state House. "He is absolutely one of the hard-working campaigners I've ever seen," said Johnson, who worked on Foley's state House race. "He loves campaigning, meeting people.
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