On July 14, 1983 the House Ethics Committee concluded that Rep. Dan Crane (R-Ill.) and Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) had engaged in sexual relationships with minors, specifically 17-year-old congressional pages. In Crane's case, it was a 1980 relationship with a female page and in Studds's case, it was a 1973 relationship with a male page. Both representatives immediately pleaded guilty to the charges and the committee decided to simply reprimand the two.
However, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) demanded their expulsion. On July 20, 1983 the House voted for censure, the first time that censure had been imposed for sexual misconduct. Crane, who tearfully apologized for his transgression, lost his bid for reelection in 1984. Studds, however, refused to apologize and even turned his back and ignored the censure being read to him. He called a press conference with the former page, in which both stated that they were consenting adults at the time of the relationship (the page was 17 at the time) and that it was therefore not the business of others to censure them for their private ephebophilic relationship, and he continued to be reelected until his retirement in 1996. (Source: Wikipedia click on title for a link)
Good thing Foley is a Republican because at least Republicans have a sense of shame. Massachusetts's has sent us Gerry Studds and Teddy Kennedy. When ever I think of Teddy I think of the line from Animal House; "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
