VICTORIA -- As more sordid details continue to emerge about Mark Foley and the failure of the House leadership to stop him from preying on pages, it is important to remember that our own congressman, Ron Paul, has repeatedly voted against legislation designed to catch online child predators like Foley, said Shane Sklar, Democrat for U.S. Congress.  

“You know it’s time for change in Washington when the leadership of the U.S. House is so greedy for political power that it would allow one of its own members to continue preying on children,” Sklar said. “And you know it’s time for a change in District 14 when your own congressman is actually voting against legislation designed to catch online child predators like Foley.”  

Paul voted against three bills that either reduced the chance that children would encounter child porn on the Internet or strengthened law enforcement’s ability to catch online child predators:  

* Prosecutorial Remedies & Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act (PROTECT)

* Child Obscenity Act and Pornography Prevention Act (COPPA)

* Children’s Internet Protection Act 

“It is impossible to know right now whether any of the laws that Paul opposed will be used to prosecute Mark Foley,” Sklar said.  “However, it is very accurate to say that laws like these are being used every single day to protect children from online predators like Mark Foley.”