Report: Rep. Confronted Foley in 2000

Federal government officials leave former Rep. Mark Foley's Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. office on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006 after spending the morning in the office, saying nothing but leaving a note on the unmarked door stating all inquires should be directed to the Washington, D.C. House of Representatives court clerk's office. Foley, 52, resigned after he was confronted with sexually explicit electronic messages he had sent teenage male pages. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter) (J. Pat Carter - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his Internet communications with teenagers as early as 2000, according to a newspaper report.

The Washington Post reported Sunday night that a former page showed Kolbe some Internet messages from Foley that had made the page uncomfortable. Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline, told the Post that a Kolbe staff member advised the page last week to discuss the matter with the clerk of the House.

Cline denied the messages were sexually explicit, telling the Post only that they had made the former page uncomfortable. She said "corrective action" was taken, although she did not know whether that went beyond Kolbe's confrontation with Foley.

Rank-and-file Republicans, meanwhile, sought to mount a public defense of Speaker Dennis Hastert over the scandal, which is threatening their congressional control one month before the elections.

But a House GOP leader under fire for his handling of the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley canceled a national broadcast appearance and one Republican lawmaker said those who participated in a cover-up would have to resign.

"Anybody that hindered this in any kind of way, tried to step in the way of hiding this, covering it up, is going to have to step down. Whoever that is," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.

The House ethics committee is investigating the matter. If it finds evidence of a cover-up, the punishment could range from a mild rebuke in a committee report to a House vote of censure or expulsion.

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who heads the House Republicans' re-election effort, would have been the chamber's top GOP official on the Sunday talk shows. Booked weeks ago for ABC's "This Week," he confirmed his appearance on Wednesday. By Saturday, his office canceled without explanation and arranged for a substitute guest, Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., a network spokeswoman said.

A Reynolds spokesman said the New York congressman had flu-like symptoms. Reynolds, whose district covers a stretch of New York between the suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester, is now trailing his Democratic opponent, Jack Davis, by a 48-33 percent margin, according to a poll conducted by Zogby International for The Buffalo News.

Reynolds has been criticized by Democrats who say he did too little to protect a page from Foley, the Florida Republican who resigned Sept. 29 after the disclosure of his sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage former male pages. Foley is now under investigation by federal and Florida authorities.

The scandal has ignited what has become a political firestorm before the Nov. 7 elections, with the Republican majority in the House and Senate in jeopardy.

Putnam, who heads the Republican Policy Committee, sought to make the case that Hastert's office "acted proactively, they acted aggressively, and within hours of the explicit e-mails coming to light, they demanded Foley's resignation."