WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – When disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley announced he was entering rehab for treatment of alcoholism and “other behavioral problems,” some of those who have known him for years were shocked and suspicious.
Some friends and acquaintances said they rarely saw him drink.
Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after being accused of sending lurid Internet messages to teenage boys who served as pages on Capitol Hill.
A former colleague, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said on Fox News Channel: “I don’t buy this at all. I think this is a phony defense. The fact is, I think he’s responsible for what he did here and I think it’s a gimmick.”
King and others expressed their opinions before the Tuesday afternoon announcement by Roth that the former congressmen had been molested by a clergyman as a teenager.
Some longtime acquaintances said they cannot reconcile Foley’s public and private lives, including the lurid communications and the claimed drinking problem.
“I have never seen Mark inebriated in public,” said Robin Bernstein, who has known Foley for 25 years. “I mean, he was a social drinker like most of us at cocktail parties with a glass of wine, but Mark was always … the consummate gentleman.”
Longtime friend and Palm Beach socialite Petra Levin said she knew Foley had a drinking problem. “You know, a lot of people who have drinking problems, you mainly do not see them in public, and that’s why it becomes a problem,” she said.
Dr. Lauren Williams, a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, said many alcoholics hide their drinking, especially when they are in positions of power.
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