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Jake Tapper, then a writer for Salon.com, noted in a 2003 article about Foley that his refusal to discuss his "sexual orientation" was being defended by Charles Francis, the co-chair of the "influential" Republican Unity Coalition. Francis called the matter a "non-issue." The group's advisory board includes such figures as former President Gerald R. Ford, David Rockefeller, and former Rep. Susan Molinari.

One of the financial patrons of the Log Cabin Republicans, multimillionaire former Republican Congressman Michael Huffington, is the ex-husband of liberal activist Arianna Huffington. Foley appeared at the group's 2003 convention. But other top Republicans who have been associated with the Log Cabin organization include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senator John Sununu, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Gordon Smith, Senator Lincoln Chafee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Rob Simmons, Rep. Darrell Issa, former Senator John Danforth, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Some of the "Washington insiders" who have participated in Log Cabin events include Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, David Boaz of the Cato Institute, and writer Andrew Sullivan.

Clearly, Foley had friends in high places in Washington.

While Foley quickly resigned after ABC news confronted him with the filthy Internet messages, this should not be the end of it. The investigation already ordered by House Speaker Dennis Hastert should examine whether the perverted comments he made in email exchanges with former pages, all male, reflected a life as an active homosexual pedophile and predator. (Link leads to sexually explicit conversations.)

We also don't know what other top Republicans knew about Foley's homosexuality and his misbehavior. ABC's Ross indicated that knowledge about Foley's interest in young boys was common among those involved with the congressional page service and that the pages were warned to stay away from Foley.

Associated Press reports that Republican Rep. Rodney Alexander, the sponsor of one of the pages approached by Foley, came across information about Foley's sexual misconduct and passed it on to the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, Rep. Thomas Reynolds.

Foley, of course, wasn't the only homosexual Republican member of the House. Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona came out of the homosexual closet, has appeared at functions sponsored by the Log Cabin Republicans and the Republican Unity Coalition, and has remained a member in good standing of the House GOP. He is retiring at the end of this term.

In Foley's case, however, the hypocrisy is stupefying. He sponsored the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and testified in favor of it, saying, "Sex offenders are not petty criminals. They prey on our children like animals and will continue to do it unless stopped... We have a moral responsibility to do everything in our power to protect our kids from these animals."

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