Washington – Republicans in tight re-election contests were unloading contributions they received over the years from Mark Foley, the former congressman ensnared in an e-mail sex scandal.
But the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has received $550,000 from Foley since 1996, will keep its money, committee spokesman Carl Forti said.
“We will be using the money like every other contribution – to help elect Republicans across the country,” Forti said.
In Buffalo, N.Y., the Republican chairman of the committee, Tom Reynolds, dismissed the notion that the committee give up or donate the $100,000 it received from Foley last summer. He spoke at a news conference in which he also defended himself against suggestions that he didn’t act appropriately when he learned of Foley’s contact with a Louisiana teenager.
Among Republicans disposing of Foley money were Virginia Sen. George Allen, who plans to give the $2,000 his campaign received to a charitable cause, and Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico, who plans to give away $8,000 she received between 1998 and 2002. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., already donated $2,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., returned $1,000 she had received from Foley’s political action committee.
Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, a member of the Republican leadership, returned $5,000 to Foley’s leadership PAC on Friday.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., returned a $1,000 contribution as well.
Reps. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., and Geoff Davis, R-Ky., donated the $1,000 they each received from Foley’s PAC to victims’ advocacy organizations in their respective districts.
Rep. Mark Green, a candidate for governor in Wisconsin, planned to give $1,000 he received in 1998 from the Foley PAC to a charity that helps abused children, his spokesman said Monday night. The state Democratic Party had called on Green to return the money.
Foley was a member of the House Republican leadership, serving as a deputy whip. Like most leaders, Foley not only kept his own campaign fund, he also maintained a leadership PAC and donated to candidates and to the party’s congressional committee.
Since he was elected in 1994, Foley has contributed $30,000 to congressional candidates from his own campaign funds. Since 1998, his PAC has distributed $149,000 to political candidates, according to Political Money Line, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political money.
His contributions to the NRCC were his single largest political donations. His most recent contribution to the party committee was in July for $100,000, according to Federal Election Commission documents.
