October 4, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - Shocking new Internet messages surfaced yesterday, revealing that former Rep. Mark Foley engaged in online sex with a male high-school page - while taking a break from an important vote on the House floor.

The graphic April 2003 exchange between Foley, the disgraced former chairman of the House Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, and the underage former House page is one of two new sets of instant messages that were obtained by ABC News and published on its Web site.

"Ok[sic] I better go vote . . . did you know you would have this effect on me," writes Maf54, identified as Foley, after the two apparently had what they described to each other earlier as orgasms, according to ABC.

"You go vote . . . I don't want to keep you from doing your job," the teen responds.

"Can I have a kiss goodnight," Foley asks.

"*:- KISS," the teen responds.

In another stunning development, Robert Novak today reveals in his column - published in PostOpinion on Page 31 - that even after House GOP leaders knew that Foley had written an inappropriate e-mail to a 16-year-old former male page, they were still urging him to seek re-election.

Novak writes, "A member of the House leadership told me that Foley, under continuous political pressure because of his sexual orientation, was considering not seeking a seventh term this year but that Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), talked him into running."

In a second set of cyber chats, Foley, author of 15 pieces of legislation designed to protect children from sexual predators, invited yet another teen to his house to drink alcohol, and acknowledged that he was fully aware the boy is underage, according to a partial transcript.

The new shocking instant messages emerged on a day of dramatic twists in an already lurid sex scandal that has rocked the halls of Congress and threatens to reverberate in elections five weeks from now.

Foley's Palm Beach lawyer, David Roth, dropped a bombshell last night, saying his client was sexually abused by a "clergyman" when he was 13 to 15 years old and has carried that "shame" around with him for four decades, affecting his mental health.

"Mark Foley wants you to know he is a gay man," Roth told reporters, adding his client "continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct."

The lawyer said that making the abuse public "is part of Mark's recovery."

Foley checked himself into an undisclosed clinic Sunday for treatment for alcoholism and mental illness.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said yesterday the Justice Department has opened a preliminary inquiry - a precursor to a full scale probe - into the Foley e-mail scandal.

"We are responding to requests to look at the facts," Gonzalez said yesterday. "Obviously, we take these allegations very seriously."

And there were signs last night that the new revelations could be just the tip of the iceberg, with more ex-congressional pages stepping forward.

Sources told The Post that more former pages and other youngsters who held jobs on Capitol Hill are surfacing with tales about Foley - and at least two more members of Congress.

Former pages have set up a link on the social networking Web site Facebook, inviting members to share past experiences with Foley. The name of the site is "I was a House page and Mark Foley totally weirded me out."

The scandal threatens to turn off the conservative Christian base that is so important for Republican turnout in elections. It has also led to calls for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who was aware of some of Foley's inappropriate e-mail contacts with minors last spring, but chose not to act against him.

The latest instant messages published on ABC News' Web site are among 52 new exchanges involving Foley and two different students under 18 that the network said it recently obtained.

Foley was already under fire for exchanging sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages with at least two more underage ex-congressional pages.

The latest exchange took place in April 2003, when the House was voting on HR 1559, the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act.

After saying, "I miss you," Maf54 wrote that the House was still voting and then the exchange veers into heavy sexual content as both appear to write about masturbating while chatting online, ABC said. The second set of instant messages, also with an underage boy, is equally shocking and could further expose Foley to serious criminal charges.

Foley invited the unidentified teen to have "a few drinks" during a Veterans Day weekend.

"Your[sic] not old enough to drink," Maf54 writes.

"shhh,"[sic] the teenager replies.

"we[sic] may need to drink at my house so we don't get busted," Maf54 replied.

niles.lathem@nypost.com

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