Rep. Mark Foley (R) Elected 1994, 6th term
Born:	Sept. 8, 1954, Newton, MA
Home:	West Palm Beach
Education:	attended Palm Beach Commun. Col., 1974
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	single
Elected  Office:	Lake Worth City Commissioner, 1977-83; Vice Mayor, 1983-84; FL House of Reps., 1990-92; FL Senate, 1992-94.
Professional Career:	Restaurateur, 1974-84; Real estate broker, 1984-90.
DC Office	104 CHOB20515, 202-225-5792; Fax: 202-225-3132; Web site: www.house.gov/foley
State Offices	Palm Beach Gardens, 561-627-6192; Port Charlotte, 941-627-9100; Port St. Lucie, 772-878-3181.
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Urban Florida has fanned far across the swamplands from its original nuclei in beachfront resort communities. Once, metro Palm Beach was a narrow stretch along Lake Worth; now it runs inland almost halfway to Lake Okeechobee. Thus Palm Beach has spread out from its original locus around the posh Breakers Hotel and the Addison Mizner villas, across Lake Worth and well beyond West Palm Beach: These are now just neighborhoods within a vast metropolitan area. Old beach towns, such as Hobe Sound, located northward along the ocean, have become the hub of very affluent developments that stretch all the way to Stuart in Martin County. Farther north, near the old town of Fort Pierce, are larger but more modest developments like Port St. Lucie. Here, spring training sites compete for baseball franchises that direct millions of dollars to local economies.

The 16th Congressional District of Florida stretches from the Atlantic almost to the Gulf of Mexico; it is one of the most oddly designed districts in the nation. In 2000, before redistricting, 44% of the 16th District's vote was cast in Palm Beach County; after redistricting, just 15% was cast there. On the Atlantic Coast it includes most of Martin County, with its very affluent towns of Stuart and Hobe Sound; much of St. Lucie County, where it includes the new developments of Port St. Lucie and Hutchinson Island and the white neighborhoods of Fort Pierce; and just a bit of Palm Beach County--Tequesta, its northernmost beach town, inland Royal Palm Beach and Wellington, a town for rich horse fanciers. By a thin corridor of land this Atlantic Coast area is connected to rural territory north and west of Lake Okeechobee: here huge farms produce citrus, tomatoes and other vegetables or support large dairy herds; the only population cluster is around Sebring, with its car racing track. This area is connected by the swamps of eastern Charlotte County with the Gulf Coast towns of Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, on the wide Peace River where it empties into Port Charlotte and the Gulf of Mexico.

The congressman from the 16th District is Mark Foley, a Republican first elected in 1994. Foley was born in Massachusetts, moved to Florida at age 3, dropped out of Palm Beach Community College and opened The Lettuce Patch restaurant in Lake Worth at 20. He was active in politics, working for Democratic Congressman Paul Rogers; he was a real estate broker and served on civic boards. Foley was elected to the Lake Worth City Commission in 1977, at 23, to the state House as a Republican in 1990, and to the state Senate from a Democratic district in 1992. When Republican Congressman Tom Lewis retired, Foley won a three-way primary with 61% of the vote. In the general, he outraised the Democrat and outpolled him 58%-42%.

In the House, Foley's political skills caught the eye of leadership early on but Foley also displayed an independent streak, with a record on cultural issues that leans to the left. He has concentrated on issues with particular local resonance, including immigration and agriculture. He pushed to deport imprisoned illegal immigrants, and to amend the Constitution so that children born here are not automatically citizens; he also worked to increase the number of immigrants admitted as farmworkers.

On the Ways and Means Committee he worked with Sander Levin to give additional preventive screening tests to Medicare beneficiaries. Foley was one of only 23 House Republicans--and the only one on Ways and Means--to oppose trade promotion authority during the initial vote. He cited opposition from local citrus farmers; the leadership was angry because Foley's stand forced them to seek votes from members who had much weaker holds on their districts. (Citrus farmers have major clout, though the industry has little bearing on the vast majority of Floridians, because the state has 25 House members). But Foley voted in favor of the final deal on trade promotion authority. Speaker Dennis Hastert tapped Foley to lead an entertainment task force for House Republicans to sell themselves to Hollywood; his work extended from escorting actors across Capitol Hill to shepherding a treaty that protects creative work from Internet piracy and opposing legislative limits on "violent" material. He got a General Accounting Office report into scandals involving cemeteries and crematoria, which he used to call for greater federal regulation of death-care providers. In the 2003 Medicare/prescription drug bill, he added a provision to revise payment for shoes with inserts or custom-made shoes for individuals with diabetes. He opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement because of its damage to the sugar industry. After the hurricane onslaught of 2004, which hit St. Lucie County especially hard, Foley worked to gain assistance, including tax relief, for badly-hit areas; he demanded an investigation of the delays in restoring electric power and he proposed legislation to allow insurance companies to create special funds for disasters. On the intelligence reorganization bill that passed in the lame-duck session after the 2004 election, he worked with Gary Ackerman to successfully add a provision to make it easier to deport war criminals and torturers from the United States.

Foley complained about the new shape the district took in 2002 redistricting, but used it as an opportunity to become better known outside the West Palm Beach media market; he has often been available to speak to local stations or cable news networks. In early 2003 he was preparing to run for Bob Graham's Senate seat. In May, rumors that Foley is gay surfaced in several newspaper stories; in response, he held a news conference where he said he will not discuss his sexual orientation. But in September 2003, he abandoned the contest to spend more time with his ailing parents; he said that the reports about his sexual orientation had nothing to do with his decision, and he soon endorsed Mel Martinez in the Republican primary. He had no problem retaining his House seat. Foley was mentioned as a possible challenger to Senator Bill Nelson in 2006, but early polling showed that he was not among the frontrunners.

Committees

• Ways & Means (15th of 24 R): Select Revenue Measures; Trade.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	25	10	0	9	100	56	100	68	76	84	--
2003	5	--	0	20	--	59	97	80	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	27%	--	71%		33%	--	65%
Social	42%	--	56%		52%	--	47%
Foreign	44%	--	55%		25%	--	68%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Mark Foley (R)	215,563	68%	$1,839,746
	Jeff Fisher (D)	101,247	32%
2004 primary	Mark Foley (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Mark Foley (R)	176,171	79%	$902,644
	Jack McLain (CPF)	47,169	21%	$2,587
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (60%); 1998 (100%); 1996 (64%); 1994 (58%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 183,339 (54%) Kerry (D) 154,632 (46%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 141,029 (53%) Gore (D) 124,752 (47%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Sixteenth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 2
• District Size: 5,249 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,295; 84.5% urban; 15.5% rural
• Median Household Income: $39,408; 10.0% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 21.8% blue collar; 57.5% white collar; 20.6% gray collar; 18.9% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 81.8% White, 5.8% Black, 1.0% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 10.1% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 12.3% German, 11.3% Irish, 9.7% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.