On September 28, 2006, ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross reported that in 2005, Foley had despatched electronic mail messages from his private AOL account to a former Congressional page, asking the page to send a photograph of himself to Foley, among other issues. Once the information report turned extra widely known, Foley's chances of retaining his seat in Congress have been restricted. Within the case of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the "FDLE carried out as thorough and complete investigation as attainable contemplating Congress and Mr. Foley denied us entry to vital knowledge," said FDLE commissioner Gerald Bailey with the closure of the case. Foley additionally succeeded in getting a law handed that enables volunteer youth-serving organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and Boys and Girls Clubs to have access to FBI fingerprint background checks. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party, earlier than resigning as a consequence of revelations that he had sent sexually express messages to teenaged boys who had served as congressional pages in what came to be known as the Mark Foley scandal. Kirk Fordham, chief of staff to Tom Reynolds (chairman of the fundraising National Republican Congressional Committee) and former chief of workers to Foley, said that he was with Foley on September 29, 2006, when ABC confronted him with the explicit messages earlier than they were publicized.
