Final Foley E-Mail Mystery Solved (Sorta)One of the last mysteries in the Mark Foley e-mail saga has been solved, for the most part: who was behind an anonymous Web site which first revealed select e-mails from the disgraced former congressman to young men.
The site, StopSexPredators.blogspot.com, was run by a “junior staffer” at the gay rights group, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), according to the New York Times. According to HRC spokesman David Smith, the group learned of the employee’s handiwork this week, and immediately fired him for “misusing the group’s resources.” HRC would not disclose the name of the staffer, the paper reported. Hence our “sorta.”
HRC’s Smith told me this morning that the fired employee had worked organizing HRC members to volunteer for political campaigns in Michigan. In the past, the group has supported Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
Shortly after the HRC staffer anonymously posted Foley e-mails to his Web site, ABC News — which had obtained the e-mails independently — ran a story on them. That story led to tips of more graphic instant-message transcripts between Foley and former pages, which led to Foley’s resignation, and the story took off from there. (You can relive the magic via our archives.)
