Hallelujah and Praise E & P

After reading the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, and Palm Beach Post bend over backward not to credit New Times for breaking the 2003 Mark Foley story that led to an infamous press conference and, shortly thereafter, the now-disgraced (and now-former) congressman's dropping out of a U.S. Senate race.

Sure, I was a little peeved on a personal level. It's really not about credit -- it's about journalistic decency. I HATE it when newspapers mangle history to avoid crediting a competing newspaper. But I feel better now after reading this. Text after the jump.

By E&P Staff

Published: September 29, 2006 4:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who suddenly announced this afternoon he is stepping down from Congress after his sex-laced e-mails to a former male page, who was 16, were published, made headlines in May 2003 when he took the unusual step of calling a news conference to denounce a report in a South Florida alternative paper that he is gay.

Foley declined to answer questions about the subject then, saying his sexual orientation had nothing to do with is duties as a lawmaker. New Times had raised the issue.

But Foley accused Democratic activists of spreading the rumor to derail his Senate campaign. That drew a sharp response from Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox, who criticized Foley for responding to one inappropriate accusation with another. Foley later dropped out of the U.S. Senate race.

Leave it to Editor & Publisher to sort through the mess and get the story right. That's a good magazine, people.