The former Navy pilot who urged Rep. Mark Foley to come out of the closet 10 years ago, said this week the disgraced Florida congressman is getting what he deserved.
Tracy Thorne, the lieutenant who notably challenged the military’s ban of homosexuals in 1992 by outing himself on ABC News’ “Nightline,” said he and Foley got into a heated fight in 1996 when the congressman voted to ban homosexuals from becoming legally married. Thorne, an attorney now in Richmond, has not talked to Foley since, but blames Foley’s closeted life for his troubles.
“He’s engulfed in self-hatred,” Thorne said. “Had he lived his life honestly, he wouldn’t find himself in a situation where he’s preying on young people.”
Meanwhile, Republican leaders are dismissing suggestions that they should have investigated further into Foley’s online messages with a teenage page. ABC News has obtained more than 52 separate Internet messages including exchanges that indicate the Congressman traded sexual messages while he was waiting for a vote with someone ABC said was under 18.
Foley has checked into an alcohol rehabilitation program, but many of his oldest friends never remember seeing him take a drink.
Foley, who grew up middle-class in moneyed Palm Beach County, had been a rising star in the Republican party, but rumors that he was gay prevented him from advancing to a higher office. Gay community leaders begged him to come out of the closet; while conservative opponents threatened to use his sexuality against him.
In 2003, Foley was a front-runner for the Republican nomination for the seat left vacant by Sen. Bob Graham, but bowed out after an alternative South Florida newspaper wrote about one of the worst-kept political secrets in Washington and Florida: That Foley was gay and had a longtime partner, a Palm Beach plastic surgeon.
This week’s scandal has rocked Lake Worth, the beach town where Foley grew up and became a city commissioner at age 23. Longtime friend and former mayor Tom Ramiccio said that he and others close to Foley have known for years that he was gay, but he never saw Foley act inappropriately around young people, nor had seen Foley drink alcohol.
Ramiccio said he worried about the health of Foley and his parents: “It’s really a shame, Mark had the cradle of democracy at his hands.”
When the story first broke, Ramiccio sent Foley an e-mail urging the congressman to keep his spirits up.
Foley’s response was short: “Thanks.”
