The Republican Party has enjoyed being King of the Hill (Capitol Hill, that is). Republicans have taken, snatched or stolen gifts, tax dollars, positions and civil liberties in a nose-thumbing way that has been politically debilitating for most Americans. The recent incident involving Florida Congressman Mark Foley has made the screeching wheels of their run-away power train heard around the world.

At a time when the political pendulum is shifting, Republicans are scrambling to do damage control. This is like trying to put perfume on skunk funk - it only makes it worse.

With the discovery of an instant message from Foley to a teen page, the Grand Old Party doesn’t seem to be so grand. The party of family values is losing its currency going into the November elections.

Foley led an arrogant tirade against former president Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky debacle. Now, Foley has taken the cowardly way out by blaming his pedophiliac behavior on alcohol and checking himself into rehab. He’s letting his attorney and GOP high rollers explain his actions.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Unchecked abuse of power begets more abuse of power. It’s a shame when we allow children to be victims of power games.

In a society where trust is routinely broken and promises shattered, teaching young children about whom to trust is becoming more and more problematic. We have to teach them about potential invaders of their privacy and bodies. All of the figures they once could look up to are suspect -teachers, coaches, priests, elected officials. None of these are the bogey-man types that children would automatically fear.

In typical cover-up style, Republican bureaucrats sat on the information until they got busted. This behavior is despicable when it deals with military intelligence (or lack thereof). But when they knowingly put children at risk, literally sending them into the lion’s den, that is contemptuous. I dare any bible-thumpin’ Republican to defend such.

One Republican analyst called Foley a “known homosexual” on national TV. Whether that’s true or not, homosexuality and pedophilia are not synonymous. It is now seeping out like sewer water from a cesspool that it was known that Foley likes young boys. The word in the Beltway among the male pages and other interns was “Watch out for Foley!”

Foley was a six-term Congressman which means he was part of the stealing of the presidential election in Florida. He’s also been part of making some of the toughest laws to protect children against sex predators.

As co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, it would be poetic justice if Foley were prosecuted to the fullest extent of a law he helped to sponsor.

BC Editorial Board member Jamala Rogers is the Leader of the Organization for Black Struggle in St. Louis and the Black Radical Congress National Organizer.