Madrid's campaign was quick to pounce on donations made to Wilson by Foley's leadership political action committee, saying that Wilson "still had not returned" the donations. Within a few hours this weekend, Wilson became the first Republican to announce plans to donate the contributions, which she had received during previous congressional races between 1998 and 2002.

Madrid's campaign has accused Wilson of not doing enough to protect congressional pages from sexual advances when she served on the House Page Board from 2001 to 2004. During that time, according to news reports, pages were warned not to get too close to Foley.

"I don't know what she knew or didn't know, but she didn't do her job," Madrid told the Albuquerque Tribune. Wilson's campaign has maintained that the congresswoman was not aware of Foley's E-mail exchanges until last Friday, when she called for a criminal investigation into his behavior.

"Madrid's charges go well over the top and don't have any credibility, and she should be ashamed of herself [for] even suggesting such a malicious thing," Wilson spokesman Enrique Knell said.

—Silla Brush