Rights Group Fires Publisher of Foley E-Mail

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/us/politics/26foley.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Rights Group Fires Publisher of Foley E-Mail

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 — A liberal gay rights group said Wednesday that one of its employees, acting anonymously, had created the Web site that first published copies of unusually solicitous e-mail messages to teenagers from former Representative Mark Foley, which led to his resignation.

A spokesman for the group, the Human Rights Campaign, said it first learned of its employee’s role this week and immediately fired him for misusing the group’s resources. The scandal surrounding Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican, has been a burdensome distraction for members of his party in the month before the midterm elections, and some Republicans have speculated that the e-mail messages were planted by a Democrat.

The rights campaign’s spokesman, David Smith, said the employee, whose name he declined to disclose, was a junior staff member hired last month to help mobilize the organization’s members in Michigan. “The minute we learned about it we took decisive action,” Mr. Smith said.

...

After the messages appeared on the Web, at stopsexpredators.blogspot.com, the Web site of ABC News followed with its own independent report. The ABC News report resulted in the disclosure of more sexually explicit electronic messages that Mr. Foley sent to other former Congressional pages.

[Demit]

1. "Unusually solicitous"? There should be a Pulitzer prize for euphemism. nt

[sui generis]

2. I know there is a political reason for distancing themselves

but I hope in my black little heart of hearts that they didn't really mean that.

Oh well, then again they endorsed Lieberman when they could have just not endorsed anyone. . . .

They didn't recant and I didn't re-new. :shrug:

[Ian David]

5. They didn't recant, but he's not on their list of endorsed candidates anymore.

Although, I think Lincoln Chafee is a bad choice to endorse.

Bob Casey , Pennsylvania (D)
Tammy Duckworth , Illinois (D)
Amy Klobuchar , Minnesota (D)
Sherrod Brown , Ohio (D)
Patricia Madrid , New Mexico (D)
Ron Klein , Florida (D)
Lincoln Chafee , Rhode Island (R)
Melissa Bean , Illinois (D)
Christopher Shays , Connecticut (R)
Debbie Stabenow , Michigan (D)

https://www.hrc.org/candidateFundraising/index.cfm?fuseaction=candidateList&fullList=1&cfid=18858126&cftoken=45942313

Interestingly, The Log Cabin Republicans endorse both Chafee and Shays, but have their own ideas of who a gay-friendly Republican is:

Gov. Linda Lingle (R-HI)-
Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-CT)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA)
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Jan Ting (R-DE)
Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH)
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA)
Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE)
Darlene Curley (R-ME)
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL
Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA)
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD)
Peter Hankwitz (R-CA)
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT)
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA)
Tom O’Donoghue (R-VA)
Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH)
Martha Rainville (R-VT)
Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI)
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT)
Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY)


http://online.logcabin.org/talking_points/2006-endorsements.html

[razors edge]

3. Talk about taking one for the team.

:patriot:

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. And there you go! It was Democrats after all!

A "liberal" gay rights group = Democrats
A "liberal" gay rights group employee = Democratic operative
A "liberal" gay rights group employee web site = Democrats are behind this!

I expect Denny Hastert to be calling a press conference pronto and reading this piece as his proof that it's the Democrats. The New York Times will be Denny's best friend!

(Note: Karl and Ken must have worked the phones really hard shopping this story around.)

[Irreverend IX]

7. It was Democrats all right--

Who else would form a circular firing squad right after a successful attack on the GOP? Sigh.

[Christian30]

6. I can't believe

that folks aren't more outraged by this...

I personally think he or she should have been promoted.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Author of blog exposing Foley e-mails fired by gay rights group

Oct 26, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, has fired an employee who admitted to the first publication on a Web site of Florida Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to a former male page.

The e-mails and later disclosures of sexually explicit computer messages from the Florida Republican to other male pages sparked a campaign-season scandal that threatens the GOP's majority in Congress.

"He inappropriately used Human Rights Campaign resources. He was fired," organization Vice President David Smith said of the employee. "The Human Rights Campaign believes in being very aboveboard in our political activity."

Smith refused to identify the employee by name, citing privacy concerns, but said he was a junior staff member who worked as a coordinator in Michigan.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_FOLEY_BLOGS_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=state.shtml


The moral of the story? Don't out pedophiles on your company's computer. Go home and do it.

[Demeter]

9. I Feel Very Conflicted About This

The staffer is punished for revealing a crime against minors. Doesn't seem right, or fair. What difference if the computer was at work or not? Would you punish him if he used the company phone to call cops on a burgler?

What about graft or bribery in Congress? Would that be against company policy if he called the press? Why distinguish between using a telephone and using a computer?

And as it wasn't their website, I don't think they have grounds for what they did.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. The only problem I have with what this blogger did

was if he was going to use his company's computer to put this blog up, he should have let them know BEFORE it became national news. Since what he did now pulls his employer into the story, he should have let them know that he had info that was very damaging to a US Congressman and what he was planning to do with it. If they objected or approved, then he could have decided how to proceed from there.

[TriMetFan]

11. I agree!

He/she should have told their boss about what was going down. But I think that firing this person was wrong. A good slap on the hand would have been enough.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Actually, if the fellow worked for me

I'd have given him a promotion and a raise.