(CBS/AP) A prominent House Republican has resigned after the revelation that he exchanged raunchy e-mails with a teenage boy, a former congressional page.

Rep. Mark Foley, of Florida, who is single, apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. Once his resignation letter was read to the House late Friday afternoon, Republicans spent the night trying to explain — six weeks before congressional elections — how this could have happened on their watch.

Near midnight, they engineered a vote to let the House ethics committee decide whether an investigation is needed.

Among the Republican explanations during the night:

The congressional sponsor of the page, Republican Rep. Rodney Alexander, said he was asked by the youth's parents not to pursue the matter, so he dropped it. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.

Alexander said that before deciding to end his involvement, he passed on what he knew to the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, Rep. Thomas Reynolds. Reynolds' spokesman, Carl Forti, said "We are not characterizing conversations that Congressman Reynolds may have had or may not have had with other members of Congress on that subject." .

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Read Rep. Foley's E-mail Exchange (from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington)
Visit Rep. Foley's Web Page

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Republican Rep. John Shimkus, chairman of the Page Board that oversees the congressional work-study program for high schoolers, said he did investigate but Foley falsely assured him he was only mentoring the boy.

The spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, Ron Bonjean, said the top House Republican had not known about the allegations. Shimkus said he learned about them in late 2005.

Just as Shimkus' explanation was released, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi proposed to the House that its ethics committee investigate and make a preliminary report in 10 days. She demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.

Instead, majority Republicans engineered a vote to allow the ethics panel to decide whether there should even be an investigation.

Foley's departure sent Republicans scrambling for a replacement candidate.

Foley, 52, had been a shoo-in for a new term until the e-mail correspondence surfaced in recent days. The page was 16 at the time of the correspondence.

Beyond the scandal, there are serious political implications. Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats for control of the House of Representatives in November. It's too late for Republicans to put another candidate on the ballot and while there are theoretical scenarios involving a write-in Republican and special elections, Republicans tell CBS News they've probably lost the seat.

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