Mark Foley Biography

Mark Foley is the American congressman who resigned in 2006 after being accused of sending inappropriate emails to congressional pages. A Republican from Florida, Foley was first elected to the House of Representatives from the state’s 16th District in 1994 and was running for a seventh term when he resigned. An ABC News story in September of 2006 reported that Foley had sent inappropriate emails to a former page in 2005, when the boy was 16. Other allegations of sexually suggestive emails and instant messages to teens from Foley followed, and Foley resigned suddenly on 29 September 2006. The case drew extra interest because Foley had been co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus and had sponsored the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act of 2006, which was intended to crack down on online predators and child pornography.