Friday, November 17, 2006
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- To the surprise of many, Mark Foley scandal figure Kirk Fordham showed up Friday at the House Republican leadership elections.
Standing in the lobby just outside the room where the elections were taking place, Fordham chatted up a few reporters and said hello to friends. But Fordham went largely unnoticed in the crowded hallway -- even though he was a central figure in the scandal that arguably cost Republicans key seats in the 2006 midterm elections. Fordham is a former chief-of-staff to disgraced ex-Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, who resigned earlier this year after it was learned the congressman had inappropriate conversations with teenage House pages.
Fordham, who quit as Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-New York, chief-of-staff at the height of the scandal, said he has been working out of Reynold's office for the last few days.
Having left so quickly after he resigned as Reynolds' chief-of-staff when the scandal broke, Fordham said he never had time to clean up his old office and transition out.
Reynolds came under fire for acknowledging that he knew Foley had contacted pages, but the New York Republican denies knowing to the extent of the conversations.
Fordham said he is just back from a two week European vacation and added he is still looking for work but not on Capitol Hill.
In one almost surreal hallway exchange, Ed Cassidy, a top aide to House ethics committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., walked passed the former star witness.
"Are you almost done," with the investigation, Fordham asked?
"Soon," Cassidy responded casually.
But after a moment Cassidy caught himself and realized the question came from Fordham, not one of the many reporters covering the leadership elections that Cassidy was here attending.
"Oh no," Cassidy blurted out. "With that we are," he said pointing to the room where the elections were slowly grinding on. "Not THAT," he said gesturing about the ethics probe.
-- CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett
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