Mark Foley, Radio Host

'Who better to shed some light' on politics today than the ex-congressman? a Florida station says. He resigned in a sex scandal in 2006.

By Brian Haas
LA Times
September 14, 2009

Reporting from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. - "Inside the Mind of Mark Foley," hosted by Florida's disgraced ex-congressman, is set to begin airing on AM radio in north Palm Beach County next week.

The Republican resigned from the House in 2006 amid allegations he sent sexually explicit computer messages to an underage page. His show will focus on current politics, WSVU-AM (960) station operations director Joe Raineri said.

"We just thought, a former U.S. congressman who knows those guys who are there right now, understands the game of politics -- who better to shed some light on it than Mark Foley?" Raineri said. "There's so much confusion and so many questions surrounding the issues today."

Foley could not be reached for comment.

Foley spent nearly three decades in politics until the scandal broke. State law enforcement looked into possible criminal wrongdoing but found no evidence and ended the Foley investigation in 2008.

After leaving office, Foley went into real estate.

Raineri said that calls to the station had been "out of control," with about half of them supporting Foley as host and half opposed to his show.

"The beautiful thing about radio is, if you don't want to hear what he has to say, you don't have to listen," Raineri said.

"Whether Mark Foley is greeted with open arms by the public and the community, that's not for us to say."

County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein said he wasn't concerned about Foley hurting the party's image.

In fact, he said he doubted people would care what Foley had to say.

"I think there's less there than meets the eye. I don't think he's someone that the whole world can't wait to listen to or has unique insights on Washington," Dinerstein said. "I don't expect anything very big out of it."

The first show, already recorded, is mostly a Q&A with the station's general manager. Future programs are likely to be live, with callers and discussion panels, station officials said.

Foley is not yet being paid for the show, Raineri said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-foley-radio14-2009sep14,0,5560374.story