[Vision2020] Darling of Conservatives also Darling of Prostitutes

[Gray Tree Crab aka Big Bertha]

Former Prostitute Claiming Affair With Senator David Vitter to Provide Details

Monday , September 10, 2007, AP


NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an
affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will
provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference
Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Wendy Cortez, whose real name is Wendy Ellis, says she had a sexual
relationship with Vitter, R-La., in 1999, when he was a state
legislator.

Copies of the results of Cortez's polygraph test, which she took at
Flynt's request, will be provided to reporters at the news conference
at Flynt's office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Hustler said in a news
release Monday.

Vitter spokesman Joel Digrado wouldn't comment on the Flynt news
conference. In an e-mail, Digrado said, "Sen. Vitter and his wife have
addressed all of this very directly. The senator is focused on
important Louisiana priorities like the water resources bill and the
Iraq debate."

Vitter, 46, apologized in July for committing a "very serious sin" and
acknowledged his Washington phone number was among those called
several years ago by an escort service run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey.
The admission came after Flynt's Hustler magazine told the senator
that his telephone number was linked to Palfrey's escort service.

Federal prosecutors accuse Palfrey of running a prostitution ring, but
she claims her escort service was a legitimate business. Vitter was
not charged with a crime.

Flynt has offered to pay $1 million to anyone who can show he or she
had a sexual encounter with a member of Congress or a high-ranking
government official. It is unclear whether he has offered Cortez any
money.

Vitter, a first-term senator elected in 2004, has denied having
relationships with New Orleans prostitutes. In a call-in radio show
during the Senate campaign, he dismissed as "absolutely and completely
untrue" that he had a relationship with a Wendy Cortez.

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New Orleans' Madam Says Sen. David Vitter Used Her Brothel

Wednesday, July 11, 2007, AP

NEW ORLEANS  — New allegations tie Sen. David Vitter to a high-priced
brothel in his hometown, one day after he publicly apologized for his
connection to an alleged prostitution ring in Washington,  D.C.

On Monday, Vitter acknowledged being involved with the so-called D.C.
Madam. A day later, new revelations linked him to a former madam in
New Orleans and old allegations that he frequented a former prostitute
resurfaced, further clouding his political future.

Jeanette Maier on Tuesday said Vitter was once a client of the Canal
Street brothel. She pleaded guilty to running the operation in 2002.
Vitter won his seat in the U.S. Senate in 2004.

Saying he was a "decent guy" who appeared to be in need of company
when he visited the brothel, Maier added unexpected details to a
scandal enveloping the first-term Republican.

"As far as the girls coming out after seeing David, all they had was
nice things to say. It wasn't all about sex. In fact, he just wanted
to have somebody listen to him, you know. And I said his wife must not
be listening," Maier said in an interview with The Associated Press.

She also was interviewed by several other news organizations.

Vitter's office did not respond to calls for comment on the latest allegations.

Well-known pornographer Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine and
free-speech advocate, also has come forth, saying it was his
investigation that prompted Vitter's confession. A press conference
was scheduled for later Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors unveiled the existence of the Maier's $300-an-hour
brothel in April 2002. It was linked to similar operations in other
U.S. cities.

"It wasn't all about dirty, raunchy, crazy sex," Maier told the AP.
"It was a bunch of guys coming over hanging out with the girls and
having a few cocktails, and men being men."

Maier was among 17 defendants who pleaded guilty in the investigation.
With all the guilty pleas, there never was a trial, and that kept
under wraps a list of customers that reportedly included prominent
lawyers, doctors and business professionals.

"He is a decent guy. He's not a freak. He's not using drugs. He's not
using taxpayers money to buy hookers or drugs or anything like that.
He's just a decent, normal guy," she said.

 Vinny Mosca, Maier's attorney in the brothel case, said in a
statement late Tuesday that she never told him about Vitter being a
client and that his name never came up in the case.

"Throughout the time that I represented Jeannette Maier in the Canal
Street brothel case, the name of David Vitter or any code name for him
never came up," Mosca said. "It was not contained in any evidence in
the case, including in any book, list or document seized by the
federal government or given to the federal government by Ms. Maier."

Mosca also said Vitter's name "was never picked up on any government
wiretap nor is it listed in any transcript or court document as part
of the Canal Street brothel case."

Also Tuesday, details resurfaced about an allegation that Vitter paid
weekly visits to a prostitute in the French Quarter in the late 1990s.
The allegations were investigated by a Republican rival when Vitter
ran for a House seat in Congress in 1999. The seat had been vacated by
Robert Livingston, who resigned after disclosure of marital
indiscretions.

Vincent Bruno, a member of the state Republican Party's central
committee, said Tuesday that he had confirmed the allegations at the
time while working for the campaign of David Treen, a former Louisiana
governor running against Vitter.

The allegations never surfaced in the congressional campaign, but The
Louisiana Weekly, a New Orleans newspaper, wrote about them in 2002
and 2004. Vitter denied the accusations. The prostitute never spoke
publicly about the alleged affair, which was largely ignored by
mainstream news organizations.

"She said she was having a paid affair often on Tuesdays and Thursdays
at Dauphine and Dumaine," Bruno said, referring to two French Quarter
streets.

"It's very sleazy, and it's illegal. But, OK, it doesn't apply to
senators. They're an elite group," Bruno said with irony. He has
called on Vitter to resign.

Bernie Pinsonat, a Louisiana political analyst, said Republicans most
likely would stand behind Vitter despite the new allegations.

"They aren't going to throw him to the wolves," he said, citing
support from religious organizations, conservative commentators and
the general public.

Vitter declined interview requests throughout the day Tuesday, and
made no public appearances in the Capitol. The night before, he'd made
a startling confession about his connection to the so-called D.C.
Madam 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's statement said his telephone number was on phone records of
Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort service, 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 was a legitimate business offering sexual fantasies.

Vitter, 46, and his wife, Wendy, live in the New Orleans suburb of
Metairie with their four children.

Vitter 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.

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Selected Blog Comments:

Pissed off Patrica Says:

Good thing he didn't bump some guy's shoe in a bathroom stall, the
republicans would have tried to hang him by now.


Anjoe Says:

That's great thinking of Vitter. With two Wendys he can scream the
name of his favorite prostitute, while banging his own wife, without
getting into trouble. This is truly a man of mature experience.


Bit NOLA Says:

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

I don't know why the whores of NOLA would stoop so low as to sleep
with Vitter, or change his diapers, or whatever else he wanted.

Russ Mason UK Says:

Which of the two pictured women is the prostitute and which is the wife?

Smack_dab Says:

While I will believe almost anyone before I believe a Republican, lie
detectors are worthless.

So Larry Flynt is a bad guy because he publishes a magazine showing
adults voluntarily doing adult things yet Republicans are good people
even though they are pedophiles and war mongerers. I wonder how many
card carrying Republicans helped create Flynt's wealth by buying his
magazine? At least with regard to Flynt, if I don't like what he does
I just don't buy his magazine or anything else he sells. I wish I
could say the same for Republicans.







Submitted by:
Gray Tree Crab aka "Big Bertha"