Page: Foley touched page on House floor
Pages worry fallout from Foley scandal might threaten program's existence
Walter Nowinski
Posted: 10/11/06
A former House page said he witnessed inappropriate contact between former Republican Congressman Mark Foley and another page in the back of the House floor in early 2001.
The page, Richard Nguyen, a first-year student at the University's Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, said he saw Foley pat a male page's behind.
Foley's attorney did not return calls for comment.
Nguyen said he was not sure during which month the incident took place. He was a page between January and June of 2001.
Nguyen did not report the incident to authorities. At the time, the then-16-year-old thought it was "questionable activity," but he was unsure how to interpret it.
"I wasn't sure if it was a social norm I wasn't accustomed to," Nguyen said. "I mean, you see athletes patting each other's asses all the time on the field."
Nguyen, a first-generation Vietnamese American from California, said he was amazed by what he learned about other points of view and other lifestyles while serving.
"It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life," he said.
However, the positive experience Nguyen had as a congressional page has recently been dimmed by doubts about the program's future.
In the aftermath of an unfolding sex scandal involving sexually explicit instant messages and inappropriate e-mails between Foley and several underage male pages, there have been calls for the program to be suspended or abolished.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) has called for the current page class to be sent home and the whole program to be reviewed.
Nguyen said he and other pages found LaHood's call alarming.
"We are united in that we want to make sure the page program is preserved," he said.
Nguyen described the page program as having been one of the most significant parts of his life.
"For someone like me who doesn't have a million dollars and is a first-generation American, it was a wonderful way to feel like I was a part of the American fabric," he said.
Yet the future of the page program is in jeopardy as the Foley sex scandal continues to unfold.
Two weeks ago, reports by ABC News revealed that Foley exchanged sexually explicit instant messages and inappropriate e-mails with several underage male House pages.
Foley resigned from Congress on Sept. 29 after a reporter from ABC News confronted him with a graphic instant message transcript in which Foley discussed masturbation techniques with an underage male page.
Earlier this week, there were reports that at least one former male page who served in the House in the fall of 2000 had sexual relations with Foley after the page had left the program. He was 21 years old.
Nguyen said many of the pages in his class were suspicious of Foley.
"We always saw that Mr. Foley was very friendly to male pages," he said. "There were signs, for an observer like myself, but I never knew what I know now."
Nguyen said he never felt threatened. The dormitory where he and the other pages lived was guarded by police, and the page program enforced curfews and a buddy system.
"I always felt safe when I was there," Nguyen said. "But then again, I was a Democratic page."
In the fallout from the Foley sex scandal, questions have been raised about how much the Republican House leadership knew about Foley's actions and when they knew it. Several prominent conservative voices, including the editorial page of the Washington Times, have called for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to resign for failing to act after he learned of inappropriate e-mail exchanges between Foley and pages.
Hastert has refused to resign and maintains that he acted properly.
The FBI is investigating Foley's conduct, and the House Ethics Committee is reviewing the Republican leadership's handling of the situation.
"If there were people who knew that the pages were being sexually harassed, you have to ask yourself," Nguyen said. "Are these the right people to be in charge of young people and to be in charge of our country?"
Nguyen hopes the page program will survive the current political uproar.
"By eliminating the page program we would be punishing the victims who came forward," Nguyen said. "That is unfair."
Page basics: A Congressional page is a high school junior who works in the House of Representatives and assists members of Congress with their duties on the House floor.
They are housed in a Capitol Hill dormitory and attend classes at the Library of Congress.