The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
www.AP.org

N.C. Dems split on taking political advantage of Foley fallout

by TIM WHITMIRE, AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Democrats in the state's highest profile congressional races split Tuesday on whether to take political advantage of a disgraced GOP lawmaker's explicit electronic messages to underage male pages.

Republican Rep. Robin Hayes, who received money from political committees run by former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, was under particular pressure, both from state Democrats and re-election challenger Larry Kissell, a high school teacher running a grass-roots campaign against the well-funded incumbent from Concord.

"It's becoming clear that a lot of folks in Washington knew about Foley's problems long before the public did," Kissell spokesman Steve Hudson said in a statement. "Our question is who knew what and when?"

Hayes' spokeswoman, Carolyn Hern, said the congressman had no knowledge of Foley's communications with pages.

"The first time that Robin was aware of any problems with Foley and this e-mail issue was when he heard it on the news like everybody else," Hern said. "I wouldn't say that he and Rep. Foley hung out. They had a working relationship, but not a friendship outside of work."

Democrats in two other closely watched races -- incumbent Rep. Brad Miller and challenger Heath Shuler -- don't plan to raise the issue, their campaigns said.

"He has too many other things he wants to talk about," Miller spokesman LuAnn Canipe said of Miller's re-election race against Republican Vernon Robinson.

Shuler's campaign released a statement saying "(the) attempts by the Republican House Leadership to cover up these e-mails and messages in order to preserve their own power are unconscionable." But the statement did not attempt to link Foley to Shuler's opponent, veteran GOP Rep. Charles Taylor.

"We'll let the voters of this country make up their minds and see who they trust to lead Congress," said Shuler spokesman Andrew Whalen.

Hayes' office said Monday he would redirect $4,500 he received from two of Foley's political action committees to a handful of charities, including the Cabarrus County Boys and Girls Club, a children's home and a daycare center. Campaign finance records show Foley's last contribution to Hayes came during the 2002 election cycle.

Spokespersons for North Carolina's two Republican U.S. senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, said those lawmakers also intend to donate to charity the smaller contributions they received from Foley.

Neither Dole nor Burr is running for re-election this year. So for a second day in a row the focus was on Hayes, seeking a fifth term representing a district that stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville. On Monday, Kissell's campaign noted Foley was responsible for lining up GOP votes on the July 2005 Central American Free Trade Agreement, which passed only after Hayes switched his vote at the last minute to support the White House-backed trade deal.

"They're trying to link CAFTA to pedophilia," Hern said. "He (Kissell) is trying to score political points on a molestation issue. That makes me sick."

When asked about connecting the page scandal to the free-trade vote, Hudson said Kissell was praying for the "families that have been victimized by Mr. Foley and the others in the Republican leadership who covered up his crime just to try to hold onto one more seat in Congress."

"As for Mr. Hayes and his ties to Mr. Foley, we hope he will show the independence today that he lacked last year when he fell prey to Mr. Foley and Mr. Hastert pressing him to vote for CAFTA," Hudson said.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Democratic Party chair Jerry Meek urged the state's Republicans House members to state where they stand on the leadership of Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has said he knew of overly friendly e-mails from Foley to one underage male page but did not know about sexually explicit messages sent to others pages.

"Do they stand with Speaker Hastert, whose callous indifference could have put more children in danger, or are they willing to take a stand against the scandal in the Republican Congress?" Meek said in a statement.

Hastert on Tuesday dismissed calls for his resignation, including one from a conservative Washington newspaper. President Bush later said he supports Hastert and his call for an investigation.