Rep. Reynolds Ad Fights Foley Effect

GOP's House Election Chief Says He 'Never Saw A Single E-Mail'

(AP)  Facing a tight re-election race, Rep. Thomas Reynolds has launched an ad campaign to defend himself against criticism over the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley and congressional pages.

"Nobody's angrier and more disappointed that I didn't catch his lies," the New York representative says, referring to Foley, in the television commercial that appeared Friday on stations in Buffalo and Rochester. "I trusted that others had investigated. Looking back, more should have been done, and for that, I am sorry."

Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, has come under attack from Democrats who say he did too little to protect a page from Foley.

In an editorial board meeting Friday with The Buffalo News, Reynolds said he could not remember several details about his involvement, including exactly when he learned of Foley's e-mails to teenage congressional pages or when he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert about them.

However, Reynolds said Sept. 30 that he had told Hastert months ago about concerns that Foley sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy.

Reynolds spokesman L.D. Platt did not immediately respond Saturday to a call seeking comment.

Reynolds already was in a tough re-election race against businessman Jack Davis, his rival from 2004.

Reynolds aides said his campaign will spend about $200,000 on the new commercial.

"I never saw a single e-mail," Reynolds says in the ad. "Not one."

Reynolds said his position in the House leadership has not been compromised.

He also told the newspaper editorial board his former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, never discussed with him any concerns about Foley, even though Fordham previously worked for Foley for a decade. Fordham resigned this past week.

Fordham said in an Associated Press interview that he warned Hastert's aides more than three years ago that Foley's behavior toward pages was troublesome. That was long before GOP leaders acknowledged learning of the problem.

Fordham's claim drew a swift, unequivocal denial from Hastert's chief of staff. "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen," Scott Palmer said through a spokesman.

[davidknaak]

Seeing upstate N.Y. referred to as economically distressed brings home how far we've fallen. Once the highest per capita exporting region in the U.S. we are now equated with Appalachia. Renolds problems are not that he didn't pay attention to the Mark Folley E Mails, it's that he hasn't payed attention to anything; national debt, foreign trade deficet, health care, name it he's an absentee congressman more bent on party needs than the electorate.

[drgoodwin12]

Here is a link to all the republicans who have had sexual relations with minors,http://www.armchairsubversive.com/ The names and details on this list are to long to print here.This is the party of morals?

[rharrin1]

If he is upset with foley for lying what are his feelings toward bush and cheney

[drgoodwin12]

Here is a link that proves Hastert prior knowledge http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2540067&page=1 ,so Hastert,Reynolds,Boehner,Alexander and Shimkus should resign.That way we can get on with facing the real issues facing this country,Iraq,Terrorism not the same until we invaded,dependence on oil,rising deficits,social security being kept viable(stop borrorowing from it)immigration policy which does not fit into the nice little boxes that have been proposed.the list goes on and on.So let us demand their resignation and focus on the bigger issues i am not saying that child molestation is not a problem,this scandal is merely a distraction from the bigger issues in this country

[nothappyatall]

Spend all you like on ads Reynolds, it's TOO LATE for repubic-CON damage control. As "CON" is the name of the repubic-CON game, this doesn't surprise me.
Get ready to pack up your office chit and MOVE OUT Reynolds!

[sharncedar]

If the guy was trying to broker a coverup with ABC it is quite interesting. It leads to two possible different further conclusions. Either a) the guy is a loonie who tried to broker a coverup when such a thing is ridiculous and never happens, or b) such coverups are fairly common and his deal just fell through.

It is difficult to believe (a) about a seasoned professional, who has worked with the media often, and would know if such coverups were possible/common.

But the implications of (b) are quite startling. It implies our political world and our media phonies are much more sinister and corrupt than we are pretending. That makes one wonder what did get successfully covered up this week.

This little exercise was to help the original post writer think a litttle, if you use your brain then you will see the much more interesting consequneces of your suppositions. Instead of just getting excited about how "bad" some guy in a political situation is, analyze the situation and understand who is manipulating your emotions.

[pakaal]

So, Reynolds is saying his Chief of Staff Kirk Fordham (sorry, newly resigned former Chief of Staff) didn't discuss the Foley situation with him? That beggars belief. Thomas Reynolds is the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman, and Fordham's been working with him for years as Chief of Staff. And they never discussed a potential S E X scandal looming weeks ahead of elections?

I can believe Reynolds saying he never saw any of the Foley emails. Of course that has no bearing on the REAL questions of why he did nothing when he found out about the content of those emails months ago - and of Foley's behavior towards pages for years, and of his Chief of Staff going to ABC the day the scandal broke to try and broker a deal to give ABC an exclusive story in exchange for not going public with the emails. The idea that Reynolds didn't know about the situation, while his Chief of Staff is rushing around trying to broker a coverup of the story by ABC is nigh impossible to believe.