Here's a later news account -- This one quotes his wife saying that if her husband was caught in adultery, she couldn't be as forgiving as Hillary Clinton was will Bill . . .
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/...itter_dc_madam
Senator's link to 'D.C. Madam' exposed By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jul 10, 7:31 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Louisiana Sen. David Vitter said he had sinned and was sorry, hours after Hustler magazine told him his telephone number was among those disclosed by the "D.C. Madam."
The first-term Republican senator declined interview requests Tuesday, and he made no public appearances in the Capitol. The night before, he'd made a startling confession in an e-mail to The Associated Press:
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling."
Vitter, 46, and his wife Wendy live in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie with their four children.
He recently played a prominent role in derailing an immigration bill backed by President Bush. He also is a key supporter of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid, serving as regional campaign chairman for the South.
Vitter's statement said his number was on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate in 2004. Federal prosecutors have accused Deborah Jeane Palfrey of racketeering by running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over 13 years, beginning in 1993. She contends that her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legitimate business offering sexual fantasies.
Palfrey's lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, said in an interview that the call from Vitter's number to the escort service was made Feb. 27, 2001.
Vitter, a Harvard University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, spent six years in the House — beginning in January 1999 — before being elected to the Senate.
Sibley confirmed that author Dan Moldea, who is writing a book with Palfrey, discovered the number connected to Vitter in Palfrey's phone records, which she has publicly released. In an interview Tuesday, Moldea said he called Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, for whom Moldea has done consulting work. Moldea said a Hustler editor called Vitter's office late Monday afternoon.
In June, Flynt took out an ad in The Washington Post offering $1 million to anyone who could show they had engaged in a sexual encounter with a member of Congress "or a high-ranking government official." In a statement Tuesday, Hustler said Vitter's statement was "the result of a multi-pronged investigation launched and run by Larry Flynt."
Sibley said a "major news organization," also alerted by Moldea, had called Vitter's office Monday morning seeking comment on the call to Palfrey's company. He declined to identify the print news organization, but said it was not Hustler. Vitter's office issued his statement late Monday in an e-mail to the AP bureau in New Orleans.
Moldea was the lead investigator on Flynt's probe in 1998-99 of lawmakers who were investigating President Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. They included Rep. Robert Livingston, R-La., who stepped aside days before he was expected to become House speaker replacing Newt Gingrich. Livingston, whose House seat was later filled by Vitter, revealed that he, too, had an extramarital affair.
Vincent Bruno, a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, said Tuesday that Vitter should resign "for his own good, the good of the party and the good of his family."
But several Republican colleagues rallied to Vitter's side in Washington.
"It's really an issue between he and his family and God, and that has been dealt with, thankfully," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. "He's a very good friend. He's a great legislator. So certainly I accept his apology, and hopefully it won't have any effect on his service here."
Asked if the matter might undermine Vitter's reputation as a social conservative, DeMint replied, "Yeah, that's part of being in leadership. If you fail to live up to standards you set for yourself, then obviously that hurts. That's what all of us fear most, that we're going to discredit ourselves and no longer be effective.
"We all think that we're not vulnerable to something like that happening," DeMint said, "but the fact is this can be a very lonely and isolating place to be away from your family. So I'm certainly not going to judge him because I don't want that kind of pressure on me."
In 2000, Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News Service she could not be as forgiving as Livingston's wife or Hillary Clinton if her husband were unfaithful.
"I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," she said. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."
Lorena Bobbitt, in a 1993 case that drew worldwide attention, cut off her husband's penis during an argument.
Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, issued a statement Tuesday saying she was "disappointed" over the revelation and hoped it wouldn't hurt the state's efforts to secure federal funding for rebuilding homes damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"I will travel to Washington in the coming weeks to continue my conversations with congressional leaders, and I hope this scandal will not lessen their critical support of our recovery," Blanco said.
Louisiana's other U.S. senator, Democrat Mary Landrieu, declined to comment on the Vitter matter.
Until Vitter's admission, the most prominent client of Palfrey's to emerge was senior State Department official Randall Tobias, who resigned from his post in April after ABC News confronted him about his use of the service.
Palfrey's Web site contains several pages of phone records, but no names, dating from August 1994 to August 2006. Palfrey wrote on the Web site that she believed a disk containing the records had been pirated, and said she was posting the records "to thwart any possible distorted version and to ensure the integrity of the information."
Palfrey pleaded guilty to pimping charges in 1991 on separate charges and was sentenced to 18 months in a California prison.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted 7/10/07:
Why is it always the Republicans who do these things?
Senator's number on escort service list
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/...v6AdCWrZpkM3wV
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, whose telephone number was disclosed by the so-called "D.C. Madam accused of running a prostitution ring, says he is sorry for a "serious sin" and that he has already made peace with his wife.
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said Monday in a printed statement. "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."
Vitter's spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement Monday evening in an e-mail to The Associated Press after a statement purported to be from Vitter was received by to the AP bureau in New Orleans.
It said his telephone number was on old phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey is accused by federal prosecutors of racketeering by running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over 13 years, beginning in 1993. She contends that her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legitimate business.
A Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, the 46-year-old Vitter was elected to his current office in 2004, becoming the first Republican from Louisiana elected to the Senate since Reconstruction. He represented Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in the House from 1999 to 2004.
Vitter and his wife, Wendy, live in Metairie, La., with their four children.
Palfrey's attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, told the AP, "I'm stunned that someone would be apologizing for this." He said Palfrey had posted the phone numbers of her escort service's clients online Monday, but that he had not been aware Vitter's number was among them. Vitter's statement was sent to the AP's New Orleans bureau Monday evening.
Palfrey's Web site contains several pages phone records, but no names, dating from August 1994 to August 2006. Palfrey wrote on the Web site that she believed a disk containing the records had been pirated, and said she was posting the records "to thwart any possible distorted version and to ensure the integrity of the information."
Palfrey revealed details of her escort service on ABC's news magazine "20/20" on May 4. At the time, ABC said it could not link any information provided by Palfrey to members of Congress or White House officials but did find links to prominent business executives, NASA officials and at least five military officers.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Tock
