October 3, 2006 Tuesday
SECTION: Pg. ARC
LENGTH: 331 words
HEADLINE: Foley close to Bonos
BYLINE: DIANA MARRERO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
Rep. Mary Bono and her late husband, Sonny, had ties to former lawmaker Mark Foley, who recently resigned from Congress amid scandal.
An avid rock fan, Foley became friends with Sonny Bono after the two joined the ranks of House Republicans in 1994.
But Bono, R-Palm Springs, denied having any personal ties to Foley on Monday, adding that she was shocked to learn the Florida Republican had reportedly sent explicit Internet messages to teenage boys.
Her spokesman, Jason Vasquez, said Bono did not know whether her late husband and Foley had been close.
"The inappropriate conduct by former Rep. Mark Foley is unacceptable and abhorrent," Bono said in a statement. "Mr. Foley's actions go against the values and responsibilities upheld by Congress. If he has violated the law, he should be prosecuted."
In an interview with the Palm Beach Post in 2003, Foley said he had been friends with the couple. He loved the entertainment scene so much that Mary and Sonny Bono began calling him "Hollywood," he told the Post.
Sonny Bono and Foley formed a Republican Entertainment Industry Task Force to boost ties between Republicans and entertainment industry executives.
When Sonny Bono died eight years ago, Foley was among a group of lawmakers who flew to California for the funeral. Later, Mary Bono sold Foley her late husband's 1994 Jeep Wrangler.
Before Sonny Bono died, the former singer helped raise campaign cash for Foley. In 1998, the Florida lawmaker gave Mary Bono a $1,000 contribution, for her campaign to succeed her late husband in Congress.
Mary Bono now co-chairs the Recording Arts and Sciences Congressional Caucus, of which Foley was a member. Mary Bono has also worked with Foley on legislation, signing on as a co-sponsor earlier this year on a bill Foley introduced to strengthen Congress' scrutiny over the sales of ports and other properties to foreign buyers.
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Contact reporter Diana Marrero at dmarrero@gns.gannett.com.
I'm pulling together MapQuest prints of the polling areas, caller lists and schedules, thinking I'd better clean this house if people are actually coming in to drop off data, when what to my bloodshot eyes should appear but some helpful pressure from Josh Marshall:
(November 05, 2006 -- 11:51 PM EDT // link)
More and more reports coming in of irate voters calling various House Democratic campaigns complaining about the repeat-call-back robocalls.
In other words, these are the harassing calls paid for by the NRCC made to appear that they're from the Democratic campaign. And a lot of angry voters are getting fooled by the scam, it seems.
Take this and the tightening polls together and you get one net result: this election is going to be decided on the ground. It's in the hands of the folks running the get-out-the-vote operations, manning the phone banks, helping people get to the polls. The Republicans are going to do their best to scam their way through this one. So it's up to the people on the ground to make sure they don't get away with it. If you're in the GOTV operation, it's all up to you.
-- Josh Marshall
