Eunice talks about Foley

Published 11:45 pm Saturday, October 14, 2006

VALDOSTA — Questions in the community surrounding Valdosta City Councilman John Eunice’s contact with former Florida Congressman Mark Foley prompted The Valdosta Daily Times to ask Eunice a series of questions about his interactions with the congressman from Eunice’s time serving as a Congressional page in 2001-2002 to present-day meetings.

Foley, a Republican, resigned from his position in the U.S. House of Representatives Sept. 29 after sexually explicit text messages between him and teenage Congressional pages surfaced.

Eunice agreed to answer the questions through a written statement to the Times. The Times attempted to contact Eunice on Oct. 5 through Valdosta Mayor John J. Fretti. Eunice was in Colorado and absent from the Council’s two weekly meetings, and the Mayor said he would phone Eunice’s personal cell phone and let him know the Times was requesting an interview.

The Times asked Eunice the following questions about his interactions with Foley. Eunice asked that his response be published in its entirety.



A transcript of Mark Foley’s farewell speech to Congressional pages in 2002 has him saying you were the highest bidder on a lunch with the congressman, and you paid a considerable sum to dine with him. Why were you interested in making connections with this particular congressman?



Reportedly, Congressional pages were warned about Mark Foley in 2001-2002. Were you warned of inappropriate behavior?



In your campaign for City Council elections in 2003 you listed your experience as a Congressional page, saying you had responsibility for 50 House employees and supervised day-to-day operations. What was your role in this position and who would you have had contact with on a daily basis?



When Valdosta City officials went to Washington D.C. this past spring, there were several dinners where they mingled with Congressional representatives. At one of these sponsor dinners you invited Mark Foley as a guest. These dinners provide an opportunity for local government to rub shoulders at the congressional level. Why would it be advantageous for the City of Valdosta to mingle with Mark Foley?



This story has gained national interest. Why have you not come forward about your interactions with Mark Foley? Why have you continued this relationship since 2002?



Did Mark Foley act inappropriately with you at any time? Did you ever feel threatened because he was an authority figure?



What message is it you want people to know about this whole ordeal? Based on you experience working in Congress, do you think this is fair to the Republican Party? Do you see this as a political ploy to sway future elections?

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EUNICE’S RESPONSE



I would like to thank the Valdosta Daily Times for giving me the space to respond to these in a controlled environment that was agreed upon by both the Times and myself. Stories like this one can spin out of control quickly. It was important to me to monitor the initial frenzy that surrounded this issue until such time that the Times reporter and I could discuss this in a responsible and tempered manner.

I served as a page in the US House of Representatives from September 2001-June 2002 sponsored by then-Congressman Saxby Chambliss. I spent my entire Junior year of high school there with 71 other students from around the country. The experience offered me and everyone else the opportunity to see how the federal government works on a daily basis. The program is unmatched in its ability to prepare high school students for potential careers and other opportunities on Capitol Hill.

One of the benefits of the page program is that you make excellent contacts in Washington as well as with your class members around the country. I met many people in my time in Washington and I have kept up with as many of them as possible. The pages work for the Office of the Clerk and are split so that pages appointed by Republican members work on the Republican side and pages who are appointed by Democrat members serve the Democrat side. It was our duty to complete various tasks assigned to us by our supervisors on a daily basis that assisted the Congressional offices of all elected members. Congressman Foley as one of the 222 Republican members of the house was respected by me as well as all of the Republican appointed pages that have served in the house while he was in office. It was our duty to assist his office as well as all other Congressional offices with tasks assigned to us by our superiors.

I had the unique opportunity to be the page overseer for several months where I oversaw and approved all jobs to be completed by the Republican pages. In this position, any requests by Congressional offices for assistance that required pages were sent to me and another page overseer and we made sure that the work was distributed on an equal basis. Many pages rotated to different posts within the program so as to gain knowledge for what work different offices accomplish in the Capitol.

The opportunity to interact with elected officials and their staff was one of the highlights of our time in Washington. I always enjoyed the time I could spend with my sponsor, Saxby Chambliss, as well as any other Congressmen that I had the chance to interact with. Congressman Foley was one of many Congressmen that would talk to the pages during House votes or debate. He was always affable and engaging and very friendly to pages, as were many other Congressmen. I was very upset when I heard the details of his behavior. The national media has now reported that the details of this scandal were known to partisan operatives for some time and that they waited until now to reveal them. People are not dumb. They will focus on matters that are important to them when they vote and not the latest Washington scandal. When it comes to Washington scandals, just take your pick. There are enough to go around and it can become a cacophony of news and people become numb.

Many of the pages that were appointed have moved on to do great things, as several former pages are now elected Members of Congress themselves. Most of the students that serve as pages become leaders in their chosen field and many return to Washington to fill various government positions. This is an isolated incident and should not cast a negative light on the page program and its future contributions to Congress and students.

The Times has asked me to comment on a statement in the Congressional Record made by former Congressman Foley that contains my name. Mr. Foley stated that I was the highest bidder on a lunch that he had provided to be auctioned off at the annual page auction. There were a combination of six Congressmen and Senators who offered personal lunches or dinners with them as prizes in the page class auction. I remember that seven pages were bidding on this particular item and it was kind of like bidding for something on ebay — you just wanted to win. As mentioned previously, this was one of many items being bid upon. Other items included photo opts with members of Congress, signed memorabilia, a signed football helmet from Congressman Tom Osbourne (former coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers), a signed gavel from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, and several lunch and dinner opportunities with various Congressmen — all of which garnered considerable attention and sums of auction money. The money from the auction went towards the annual page Prom and spring formal that were held in ballrooms on Capitol Hill. In light of what we know today, I was the unlucky winner of a meal with Congressman Foley instead of one of the other elected officials who placed dining opportunities on the auction agenda. I did not view it that way then and neither did my fellow classmates who lost the bidding to me.

Congressman Foley upgraded my prize from a lunch to a dinner and I picked Morton’s Steakhouse. I followed all the rules for leaving the page dorm and returning. As you can tell in the Congressional record all the proper procedures were followed including permission slips from the clerk, my parents and official checking out procedures from the page dormitory. It was a good dinner and obviously, nothing inappropriate occurred.

This is probably a good time to tell you that at no time was there any warning given to the class to stay away from Congressman Foley or any other Congressman, Senator or staff member. Had there been any warning, the Clerk’s office would NOT have allowed Congressman Foley or any other Congressman who had suspicious activities to participate in the page auction and certainly would not have allowed them to take pages to lunch or dinner. I can not speak to other page classes being warned about the behavior of elected officials or staff as I would not have been there to hear it. We were not asked to stay clear of anyone, and if we had been then we would have followed those directions.

Following my time as a page, I knew that I had ambitions to serve in government at some level and knew that having friends in Washington would be an asset to me. As a result of this I have kept up contact with numerous people in the DC area for the purpose of having them as contacts for future employment or references on a resume. These people include my former sponsor, Saxby Chambliss, and several people from his office; Senator Johnny Isakson and people from his office; Congressman Jack Kingston and people from his office; Congressman Ken Calvert and people from his campaign team, staffers from Speaker Hastert’s office, staffers from the Office of the Clerk, and several others including former Congressman Mark Foley.

Mr. Foley offered to all pages when we left the program that if we ever needed assistance with anything to feel free to contact his office. This was not an uncommon gesture for him to make; because as is stated in the Congressional Record from the same day as the above mentioned speech, more than 10 Congressmen and women wished us well and offered assistance to us for future opportunities. I have traveled to Washington 10 or more times since I left the program and I always attempt to make contact with some of my former colleagues on Capitol Hill just to touch base and keep the contacts active. As anyone in business or politics knows, it can never hurt to have too many contacts to call on. Mr. Foley’s office was a contact that I attempted to keep active and I would generally notify his office as well as the above mentioned offices when I was in town and would stop by if the elected officials or staffers in their office had time to see me.

When the City Council traveled to Washington this past May to visit with military and Congressional officials, there were dinners held to discuss issues important to the City with people from both groups. One evening, we took several staffers from several Congressional offices to dinner. Councilmen were encouraged to invite anyone in the DC area who could be of assistance to us in handling issues that were important to us. I invited several people from Senator Chambliss‚ office and I also extended an invitation to Congressman Foley’s office. I believe that Mr. Hanson has already briefed the Times on the purpose of extending the invitation to Mr. Foley’s office, but I will go over it again.

The main purpose for the trip to Washington each year is to make contact with elected officials. As those who lived through the last few BRACS know, you sometimes need every contact you can find in Washington. I had known Congressman Foley and I wanted him to get to meet our delegation purely on the basis of our meeting all the Congressmen we could meet. Additionally, I knew that he had dealt with issues due to the recent multiple hurricanes that had damaged his district in West Palm Beach, Florida. Valdosta faces a threat from hurricanes every year and we often have to shelter displaced citizens from Florida. I believed we could exchange views on that subject and gain insight from him on future grant opportunities for our community if this year brought about another bad hurricane season. Mr. Foley additionally served on the important Ways and Means committee and had a hand in writing all major tax bills. He was also a chief deputy whip in the Republican Leadership and someone who I thought could be an additional asset to Valdosta. During that dinner Mr. Foley provided insight and opinions on future federal hurricane preparedness grants and opportunities in which the City of Valdosta would be interested. Fortunately, no major hurricanes affected our region this year and therefore no assistance was needed; but at the time it was a good contact for the city to make if anything did come up.

After the revelations regarding Mr. Foley’s inappropriate behavior surfaced, I was shocked and disappointed as were many of my former page colleagues. I, along with many other former pages were instantly contacted by the media who were attempting to get an exclusive and a story on the subject. Like a vast majority of others, I did not return any of those national requests because I did not feel me talking to the media would do any good.

First, I reject the idea that I am supposed to “come forward” when as you can see, there was certainly nothing salacious concerning my dealing with Mark Foley or any other Congressman or Senator. Something close to 2000 persons have been in the page program since Congressman Foley was first elected. Of those, only 10 have chosen the easy notoriety of appearing on the tabloid cable programs. As was witnessed in these appearances, and mentioned in my press release, these pages have been torn to shreds by the media. Taking into account my relationship with (The Valdosta Daily Times), I now trust that the VDT would not do that to me. I do however, have some trepidation about this being picked up by the National media and then being forced into the middle of this feeding frenzy. Pages were not allowed to speak with the media while we were serving and were told to refer any questions to the Office of the Clerk of the House. This is statement that many pages gave to the media instead of speaking with them. Can you really blame those of us who have not spoken to the media?

In closing, I strongly believe that my continued contacts in Washington, through the page program, provide me with an advantage in numerous areas. Unfortunately, Mr. Foley was not who he appeared to be; but until two weeks ago, there was never any reason for me to doubt that Mr. Foley was anything other than a good person working hard for his constituents.

I think that this is a good place for me to comment on any inappropriate conduct by Congressman Foley or any other Congressman or Senator. Had any Congressman or Senator made any inappropriate approaches to me, you would have heard about it long before now. I would have done my duty and reported it to my sponsor, immediate supervisor or any appropriate authority. Bottom line, nothing inappropriate ever occurred to me or in my presence by any elected official.



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This excerpt and video footage of Mark Foley’s farewell speech to 2002 Congressional pages can be found at www.amysrobot.com.



“ … and finally John Eunice. John was the highest bidder on lunch with Mark Foley. Maybe you all do not know this story, but John had paid considerable sums to dine with me. I had offered to take the winning bidder to lunch in the Members‚ dining room. Then I heard how much John Eunice paid. And I said, ‘John, there is no way in the world after you committed so much money to have lunch with me that I would dare take you downstairs to eat in the Members’ dining room.’ I said, ‘Where do you want to go?’ He says, without reservation, ‘Morton’s.’ I said, ‘Morton’s? Like in Morton’s Steakhouse?’ He said, ‘Oh, would that be too much?’ I said, ‘Oh, no, we’ll go.’ I said, ‘Call your mother, get permission, make sure she notifies the Clerk and we will go to Morton’s.’ And so we proceeded to cruise down in my BMW to Morton’s. And all of this story is meant to make you all feel jealous that you were not the high bidders. So we went to Morton’s and I do not know where you all went.’