Foley’s Irish Ties

DISGRACED Congressman Mark Foley was a frequent attendee at Irish events and was considered a significant figure in the Republican Party on Irish issues.

Foley was forced to resign last Friday after compromising e-mails of his conversations with young pages on Capitol Hill became public, setting off a scandal that could have ruinous results for the Republicans.

Foley, who was born in the Irish suburb of Newton, just outside Boston, in 1954, moved to Florida at a young age but he never lost track of his roots. He defeated another Irish stalwart, Congressman John Comerford, to take the seat in the Republican sweep year of 1994. His district, Palm Beach, would have one of the largest Irish populations in Florida.

He was one of the first Republicans to meet with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams soon after he was elected in 1994. Foley attended several events for Adams in subsequent years and made clear his interest in Irish issues. He also attended many functions at the Irish Embassy during the period in the 1990s when Ireland was a hot topic under the Clinton administration.

Those who knew him spoke highly of his grasp of the Irish issue and, indeed, his overall smarts. His promising political career now is in ruins, and he will be lucky to escape indictment.

Ironically, the only Democrat on the congressional committee which oversees the treatment of the pages is Congressman Dale Kildee of Michigan, whose parents came from Ireland. He was especially supportive of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform volunteers when they were canvassing Capitol Hill.

Young Dems Set Up Group

A YOUTH branch of the Irish American Democrats group will kick off on Thursday, October 12 in Washington, D.C.

Irish American Democrats, headed by the indefatigable Stella O’Leary, has been a huge success since its inception and has raised hundreds of thousands for Democratic candidates throughout the country.

The “Young Irish American Democrats” division will be officially launched by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, and already an active young committee is up and running.

It is certainly a new departure at a time when political activism among the young, spurred on by the Internet, is increasing. It will be interesting to see how successful the new group is. Details are on the www.irishamericandemocrats.org website.

McAuliffe’s Key Hillary role

SPEAKING of Terry McAuliffe, the former DNC chairman is likely to have a new job pretty soon — organizing the funding for Senator Hillary Clinton’s White House run in 2008.

While the senator has been coy about her decision to go for the presidency, it is already clear that McAuliffe will be the key go to guy for her and her husband.

When he was head of the DNC he was able to match the fundraising by the Republicans, no mean feat given the fact that his successor Howard Dean has miserably failed to do so.

Given that track record and his close association with the Clintons, there is no doubt that McAuliffe will be front and center for the 2008 White House bid.

Indeed, there are many Democrats who dearly wish he was still in charge at the DNC. With the Republicans expected to flood the zone with lavish ad spends in the last few weeks of this campaign, the lack of a Democratic response because of lack of money will be clearly obvious. There is no way McAuliffe would have allowed that to happen.

Heath’s Bomb Threat

THE revelation in the London Sunday Times that then Prime Minster Ted Heath had stationed a warship off Northern Ireland in the wake of the rioting after Bloody Sunday in 1972 when 14 Nationalists were killed is truly shocking.

A new biography of Heath reveals that he had plans, if the widespread rioting after the deaths did not die down, to call in air strikes from the destroyer. Bombing the Bogside was seriously considered, the new book says.

Of course, we have seen the Israelis do that on civilian targets in the Palestinian territory, but it is almost unheard of for a sovereign government to even consider such a move against their own people.

Yet, the rioting was so fierce that Heath gave the go ahead to move the destroyer into position and to have the fighter planes on stand-by.

One can only imagine the world reaction if Britain has actually gone ahead and tried to use fighter planes against civilians.

Korean Unveiling

THE Irish Korean War Memorial Committee will unveil its monument to the 28 Irishmen who gave their lives in that conflict on Saturday, October 14 at Greenwood Cemetery located at 500 25th Street in Brooklyn at noon. There will be a Mass in the chapel followed by the dedication ceremony.

The 28 Irish were granted posthumous citizenship on October 30, 2003, by a special act of Congress. The war raged from 1950 to 1953 and is often called the forgotten war because of the Second World War which preceded it and the Vietnam War that commenced not long after.

It is nice to see that the Irish who fought and died for this country in that war will finally be remembered in a permanent way, and great credit is due to the distinguished committee who made it possible. Anyone seeking further information can go to the excellent website www.irishinkorea.org, or call Tigue Murphy at 718-324-2367.