The Pintos just backed the wrong horse (pun intended). I'll take the man's word for it that he had no idea about Foley's personal peccadillos. This story doesn't amount to a hill of beans (hey, another one) beyond the same old matter of influence peddling.

Business as usual or not, this is a big story getting bigger all the time, and I suspect (though I can't say I've verified it) that Mark Benjamin has just broken an intriguing new angle of it wide open. Good work, Mark Benjamin, and good work Salon. Please keep it up. How often can "follow the money" prove itself good advice?

Have you NOT been Bushwacked enough yet, or is it just a Long Island, Palms down?

Buying legislation that benefits him personally?

Ok. This article sets out how Foley and Rep Reynolds share more in common than Fordham, a former employee who, until recently, had served as chief of staff in both of their offices.

Keep it up! Also, keep scrutinizing Fordham's claim that he tried to cut a deal with ABC News without Rep. Reynolds knowledge. Such a claim just doesn't seem plausible.

Then what horrible shite are the other 26 paying to cover up??

It ought to be illegal for companies or individuals of one state to make campaign contributions to politians who are supposed to represent the voters of another state. Heck, it ought to be illegal for companies to make contributions period. Only registered voters should be allowed to contribute to political campaigns, and only to candidates running for office in their district, state, or for the presidency.

Anyone can and should be able to give donations to any politician they want. The contributions here have not connection to the Foley scandal and only seem to be reported because someone on the Salon staff is oh-so-eager to do as much of a Republican smear job as possible.

Considering the way Bush smeared Kerry in the race, and Republicans frequently use smear and fear-mongering to win votes, I shouldn't be bothered at all. But I am. It's wrong. It's a cheap tactic. I can't respect it. This article was a waste of space.

(1) This article isn't supposed to be about the Foley sex scandal. It's about contributors (all of a family) in Rhode Island giving money to a Florida politician's campaign, and - surprise! - the politician happens to sit on a committee of direct financial import to the contributors. In this case, it was to get the IRS to outsource its collections, which has been tried in the past and which cost the government more money than in brings in.

(2) I see no reason why anyone living outside the 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania should be donating money to Mike Doyle or Titus North. Their job is to represent my interests. If an individual wants to help elect a like-minded politician to represent their interests, they can do it in their home district. If there's no one running that represents their interests, they can run for office themselves.

Do you mean to say that Foley was being investigated for these contributions already, and had there been no sex scandal, Benjamin would still have been investigating this story? Hogwash.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime has the right to contribute money to a cause they support. It isn't suprising at all that a hard-core Republican would donate his money to Republicans, especially those who support progams that said donor favors.

The implication is that the donation here was a bribe, but it has not remotely been proven, only lightly hypothesized.

I live in Texas. I have no problem with any rich Democrat across the country donating money to Democratic politicians here. In fact, those politicians could use all the support they can get, the kind of support that the impoverished/disenfranchised people they are eager to help cannot possibly provide. Do you think the people in this state with money to spend, who are by and large Republicans, are are going to chip in some funds for the other team? Unlikely.

I suppose that is true NOW that Foley is gone and Reynolds is in hot water.

Dendrio speaks for me. Why does anyone who can't vote for or against a particular officeholder get to donate any money to them? I know it's a naive question, but should it be? The most fundamental expression of your freedom of speech is to vote for the candidate of your choice. I live in Illinois; I can't vote for or against Tom Reynolds. Has my freedom of speech been abridged? No. Doesn't the same logic apply to a business incorporated in and doing business in New York that wants to support a Florida candidate? Why do businesses have the right to engage in politics anyway? In my little version of America, all lobbyists would be reduced to pleading the rational benefits of their clients' cases for legislative change rather than reducing our Congressmen to whores on their knees, doing favors for cash.

The IRS is entrusted with our private financial information. This new legislation pioneered by Foley gives the IRS the opportunity to auction off citizens private financial information with out a court hearing, or legal defense. It is a violation of taxpayer rights and privacy rights ( unreasonable search and siezure ) granted in the Bill of Rights. All congress members, gay or otherwise, were at one point sworn in to uphold the Constitution of the United States. While alcholism and sexual abuse may explain Foley's pedophilic tendencies, nothing explains his failure to uphold the Bill Of Rights.

THE OWNER OF A COLLECTION AGENCY CANT THINK OF ANYTHING WORSE..THATS ALMOST FUNNY BUT THIS JERK MAKES HIS LIVING BY PUTTING PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREET OR HARRASING PEOPLE WHO CANT PAY THERE BILLS....MOST ARE GOOD PEOPLE WHO FOUND THEMSELVES IN POSITIONS OR SITUATIONS THEY COULD NOT PREDICT...IM SURE THIS JERK SUPPORTED THE NEW BANKRUPCY BILL THAT WAS PASSED IN JANUARY....MAYBE HE SHOULD LOOK INTO THE EYES OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF ALL THE FAMILIES HE HAS DESTROYED OR MADE HOMELESS...BUT THAT DOSEN'T MAKE HIM A BAD GUY...JUST A GOOD REPUBLICAN...

I WOULD RATHER CLEAN CESSPOOLS THEN DO WHAT MR PINTO AND FAMILY DO...AFTER A DAY OF CLEANING CESSPOOLS YOU CAN SHOWER AND FEEL CLEAN AGAIN.