Kirk Fordham

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Kirk Fordham (born April 4, 1967 in Rochester, New York) has served on the staff of various U.S. Republican Party politicians. Fordham was largely unknown outside Washington until he found himself in the middle of the Mark Foley scandal.

Fordham had worked for Foley, as his chief of staff and campaign manager from 1995 to 2004. Later, he was chief of staff to U.S. Representative Thomas M. Reynolds (R-NY), who, in 2006, was also the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

[edit] Early life and career

Fordham is a graduate of Greece Olympia High School. In 1989 he received a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

He got his start in politics an intern for his congressman, one-term Republican Fred J. Eckert^[1]. He worked for then Rep. James Inhofe from 1989 to 1994 as his Legislative Director and Deputy Chief of Staff. ^[2] In 1994 he managed the first congressional campaign of Foley, became his chief of staff, and stayed with him for 10 years.

From January 2004 to January 2005 he served as the finance director for Senator Mel Martinez^[3]

In 2005, Fordham was National Field Director for the DCI Group, a public and government affairs firm with close ties to the Republican Party.

Fordham is openly gay.^[4]

[edit] Involvement in Mark Foley scandal

Fordham, with a decade-plus working relationship with Foley, and close personal friends of Foley and his sister, emerged as a central player in the scandal. According to the Los Angeles Times Foley was well known for approaching young men in Washington, and Fordham would sometimes accompany him to keep him out of trouble. ^[5]^[6]

When ABC news was about to break the story on Foley's instant messages, Fordham offered ABC News a deal, asking that they refrain from publishing explicit messages from Foley to young male pages, in exchange for an exclusive story on Foley's resignation. ^[7]^[8] After it became public, Fordham was then instrumental in arranging Foley's resignation. Questions were then raised about Reynolds' role, and on 4 October 2006, Fordham resigned as Reynolds' Chief of Staff.^[9] It was reported that in the spring of 2006 Fordham had urged Republican leaders not to raise questionable Foley e-mails with the full Congressional Page Board. On the other hand, Fordham claimed that he had raised the issue with the staff of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert more than three years prior -- before Fordham left his post as Foley's aide in January 2004 -- but that little had been done. ^[10] Hastert's Chief of Staff Scott Palmer denied this assertion.^[11]