Letter to Buffalo area religious leaders on role of Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) in Foley scandal

Bishop Pastor Tommy Reid
The Tabernacle
3210 Southwestern Boulevard
Orchard Park, NY 14127
treid@thetab.org

Rev. Robert Behn
Founder, Last Call Ministries
Operation Save America - Buffalo
P.O. Box 189
Cheekotowaga, NY 14225
lastcallministries@juno.com

Anne F. Downey
New York State Director
Concerned Women for America
P.O. Box 97
North Boston, NY 14110
director@newyork.cwfa.org

Rev. Duane Motley
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms
Founder and Executive Director
P.O. Box 107
Spencerport, NY 14559-0107
FAX: 585-225-2810
lobby@nycf.info
Dear Madam and Sirs:

As a leader in the gay rights community, I am writing to you although I know we differ on many issues, because of an issue on which I believe we have a common concern: the protection of America’s young people from sexual predators.

I am sure you are stunned as I am by this week’s revelations about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, and the role of Congressional leaders in protecting him and letting his behavior continue.
Mr. Foley’s alleged misuse of his office to communicate inappropriately with underage youth is, I am sure, something we both find abhorrent. As a result, we must put aside our differences to work together to clean up Congress and protect the children invited to serve there.
That work should start, I believe, by joining together in calling for Buffalo Congressman Tom Reynolds to make a full disclosure about why it was that he chose to stop at simply referring the complaints he received to his “supervisor,” Speaker Hastert.

I propose that we call on Rep. Reynolds to answer all questions from his constituents at an open public meeting without any children present (as they were Monday night at his press conference at Daemen College), and without cutting off questioning. Rep. Reynolds must come clean about why he failed to act himself to stop the molestation of teenaged boys placed in his care and that of the other members of Congress in charge of the page program.

If Rep. Reynolds declines to take his constituents’ questions in public, or his explanation is lacking, then we should jointly call for him to step down as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and relinquish his post as Deputy Majority Whip in the House leadership.

Since Mr. Foley’s resignation last Friday, it has become clear that Rep. Reynolds and a number of other high-ranking members of the Congressional leadership were aware of this situation before anyone in the public, and chose only to issue warnings to these teenage pages to avoid Mr. Foley’s unwanted attention. I spoke to a former page as a part of my organization’s investigation, and the page confirmed the past warnings to pages about Mr. Foley.

Rep. Reynolds and the other leaders of Congress chose not to report to the proper law enforcement authorities what they had to suspect was sexually predatory behavior. Our Congress must operate in an environment that is welcoming and safe for young people. I am certain you join me in your outrage over this lack of inaction on the Foley case. Like you, I don’t want any sexual predators like Mr. Foley in Congress, regardless of whether their targets are young men or young women.

I am first and foremost concerned for the young victims of Mr. Foley’s advances, and any other young people who might be similarly targeted in the future. I am certainly troubled for our democracy, when our elected leaders cover up behavior that Mr. Foley himself worked to criminalize, for partisan political advantage. I am also concerned that his behavior is a blight on my community that could lead to further discrimination against gay people in public life.

Some conservative leaders have even reiterated this week the stereotype that gay people are somehow more likely to be pedophiles. I realize that you yourself may hold strong opinions of proudly gay Americans such as me and the readers of my weblog, www.proudofwhoweare.org. While I can assure you that this is not the case, I know that you don’t want this behavior in the halls of Congress -- and in the party that you may have been asked to help keep in the majority.
If you are convinced that everybody like me is a potential pedophile, and that it’s unacceptable for gay people to be in public life at all, then I would ask, what do you intend to do when you learn that there are more closeted gay members of Congress?

I hope you join me in my call for a non-partisan approach to this matter. The safety of America’s children is at stake, as is the public belief in Congress, which started out at rock-bottom levels even before the news about Rep. Foley broke.

So, in light of our shared interest in purging this moral cancer from Congress, I invite you to join me in demanding a full public explanation from Rep. Reynolds in which he does not cut off questioning or have children present, as he did Monday night at Daemen College. By joining forces, we would speak across the ideological spectrum for the sort of action that would send a powerful signal that this sort of politically driven cowardice is not going to be tolerated.

Let’s put aside our differences for just a day, and hold Rep. Reynolds responsible for assisting in the continued misconduct of a member of the United State House of Representatives, which threatened the wellbeing of the children placed in their care. You may reach me at (202) 588-9446, or by email at mrogers@proudofwhoweare.com.

Michael Rogers
President
Proud of Who We Are

cc: U.S. Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho
The Hon. David Dreier of California
The Hon. James O. McCrery III of Louisiana
The Hon Jerry Weller of Illinois
The Hon. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina
Ken Mehlman, Chairman, Republican National Committee