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May
12-13, 2007 -- Hookergate involves fired US Attorney. US
District Judge for the District of Columbia Gladys Kessler, a
Clinton appointee, has re-issued an order prohibiting DC Madam
Deborah Jeane Palfrey from releasing any more phone lists of her
Pamela Martin & Associates customers. Secrecy of the phone
records has been a priority for DC Assistant US Attorney William
Cowden. Palfrey released her 10 years of customer phone records
to ABC's "20/20" before Kessler's March order prohibiting such a
release took effect. As WMR reported, ABC and Disney, under
pressure from the Bush White House, killed the story and stated
that there were no "newsworthy" names on the Madam's list. WMR
has been informed by three well-placed sources that Vice
President Dick Cheney, while a part-time resident of McLean,
Virginia and while serving as Halliburton's CEO, was a customer
of the DC Madam.
The focus on the DC Hookergate story has now
moved to Baltimore, and the firing by the Justice Department in
December 2004 of the US Attorney for Maryland, Thomas DiBiagio.
DiBiagio was fired, along with a number of other US attorneys,
after George W. Bush's re-election for political reasons. One of
DiBiagio's public corruption targets was the staff of
then-Republican Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich, some of whom had
engaged the services of Madam Palfrey's escorts. The US
Attorney's office in Baltimore first became involved in the
investigation of the prostitution ring after the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) office and IRS agent Troy Burrus in
Baltimore made a criminal referral to the US Attorney's office
in Baltimore. Subsequently,
an asset seizure warrant for Palfrey's assets was issued.
Palfrey and her employees used two telephones in Maryland for
their escort business, 301 231-5800 in Rockville, near some of
the "mansions" in Potomac, Maryland and Great Falls, Virginia
described by "20/20" as the locations in DC where Pamela Martin
escorts would pay calls, and 410 244-1818 in Baltimore.
After Ehrlich complained to then-Deputy Attorney General
James Comey about the aggressiveness of DiBiagio, the
Baltimore-based US Attorney was placed on the firing list in the
wake of the 2004 election. David Margolis, an Associate Deputy
Attorney General, claimed he did not know about any
investigations of Ehrlich's staff by DiBiagio when he informed
the number one Justice Department official in Baltimore that the
Justice Department had lost confidence in his abilities.
DiBiagio had already witnessed the brutal murder of his
Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Luna in December 2003. A husband
and father of two, Luna had departed in his vehicle, strangely
leaving his cell phone on his desk at his office, and drove a
circuitous route through Delaware, New Jersey, and then
Pennsylvania before he was found in a creek near the
Pennsylvania Turnpike in Denver, PA stabbed to death 36 times,
supposedly with his own pen knife. Federal authorities leaned
toward a suicide but local investigators treated the death as a
homicide. In 2004, DiBiagio claimed he was being pressured to
stop his investigation of Ehrlich's staff for links to gambling
(particularly the gambling interests of jailed Maryland/DC GOP
lobbyist Jack Abramoff), prostitution, and other corruption and
filed a threat report with the FBI. The Washington Post
and Washington Times then reported that Luna was fearful
that DiBiagio was going to fire him, which led to Luna's
"suicide." It is a charge DiBiagio strongly denied. DiBiagio
told the New York Times that the pressure from Ehrlich's
office and the Justice Department served "to intimidate my
office and shut down the investigations." Maryland Democratic
Senator Ben Cardin has asked for an investigation of DiBiagio's
firing.
Luna's death on December 4, 2003 was followed a few days
later, on December 10, 2003, by the indictment of Maryland State
Police Superintendent Ed Norris for using his Executive
Protective Unit (EPU), the unit that protects the Governor of
Maryland and other state VIPs, to transport prostitutes to
various locations, including posh Baltimore and New York City
hotels, including the Baltimore Hyatt. Like Palfrey, Norris also
came under investigation for tax evasion by the Baltimore IRS
office. ABC's 20/20 reported that Madam Palfrey's escorts were
also driven to expensive Washington hotels, including the
Hay-Adams. Palfrey, herself, has suggested that some of her
escorts may have been linked to the case of jailed California
Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham, Mitchell Wade's MZM,
Inc., and Shirlington Limousine. The limousine service was,
according to investigators, involved in transporting escorts to
the Watergate and Capitol Hill's Westin Grand Hotel for "poker
parties" with top Republican congressmen and CIA officials.
Hookergate expands: Cheney (l.), fired US
Attorney Thomas DiBiagio (c.), who charged he was fired because
of pressure from DOJ and Maryland GOP Governor, and Maryland
Governor Bob Ehrlich (r.), whose staff was linked to a
prostitution ring.
The murder of Luna and the firing of DiBiagio eliminated the
threat that the well-heeled customers of the DC/Baltimore
prostitution ring, many of them GOP stalwarts, would be exposed
prior to the December 2004 presidential election. The attempt by
Justice prosecutors and Judge Kessler to limit the criminal case
to Palfrey continues the effort to punish the DC Madam and her
employees and divert attention away from the customers. In May
2004, at the same time Norris and his chief of staff agreed to a
plea deal in the prostitution case and received light semtences,
Palfrey came under intense federal investigation. Palfrey claims
that she is being scapegoated by the very same people who were
her customers.
This past January, after being exposed by the media as
running an escort, Brandy Britton, a PhD and former Associate
Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus was
found hanging in her home in Ellicott City, Maryland, a suburb
of Baltimore. Britton's home had been foreclosed after she was
charged with running a prostitution service using the name
"Alexis" and has since been identified from Palfrey's phone
lists as one of the Pamela Martin & Associates escorts. Palfrey
used the name "Julia." The Bush administration, clearly
concerned about a sex scandal that will bring down more than
just former Assistant Secretary of State Randall Tobias, is
hoping to keep the focus on "Julia" and her employees, and not
on "Backseat."
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., speaks speaks
at a news conference at the Port of New Orleans, March
30, 2005 file photo in New Orleans. Vitter apologized
Monday night, July 9, 2007 for "a very serious sin in my
past" after his telephone number appeared among those
associated with an escort service operated by the
so-called "D.C. Madam."
Sen. Vitter Apologizes for His Link to 'D.C. Madam'
Rising Star in GOP Admits to Alleged 'D.C. Madam'
By JAKE TAPPER
July 10, 2007
Republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, whose phone
number was linked to Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the
so-called "D.C. Madam," says that he is sorry for a
"serious sin" and that he has already made peace with
his wife.
Palfrey is awaiting trial on racketeering charges
related to a prostitution ring she allegedly ran.
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"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am,
of course, completely responsible," Vitter said Monday
evening 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."
Until his disclosure Monday, Vitter had been a rising
star in the Republican social conservative movement.
"I don't believe there's any issue that's more important
than this one," Vitter said in June 2006, about the
importance of a constitutional amendment banning
same-sex marriage. "I think this debate is very healthy,
and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think
we're going to show real progress."
At another time, speaking at the Lafayette Parish
Republican Executive Committee luncheon, Vitter compared
same-sex marriage to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"David Vitter is dedicated to making life better for his
young family and all Louisiana families," reads the
first line of his official biography. Presidential
hopeful Rudy Giuliani eagerly used Vitter to vouch for
his credentials, to write Op-Eds and to serve as a
surrogate selling him to social conservatives.
"Obviously, I disagree with Rudy on some significant
social issues and these are very important to me and to
many people I represent," Vitter said during his March
12 endorsement of the former New York Mayor. "But after
numerous personal meetings with the mayor, it's very
clear to me that he's not running for president to
advance any liberal social agenda."
"Like all parents, Wendy and I, our top concerns are our
children," Vitter said, referring to his three
daughters, Sophie, Lise and Airey, and son, Jack. "And
even with all the international threats we face from al
Qaeda to Iran to North Korea, we'll sleep very soundly
at night with Rudy in the White House."
A product of Harvard, Tulane Law School and the Rhodes
Scholars, Vitter was elected to the Louisiana Statehouse
to succeed former Klansman David Duke in 1991; there he
successfully pushed through term-limits legislation.
In 1999, after designated House Speaker Rep. Bill
Livingston, R-La., abruptly resigned after disclosures
of numerous affairs, Vitter successfully ran to succeed
him representing suburban New Orleans.
Asked whether she could forgive her husband after an
extramarital affair, as Livingston's wife had done,
Wendy Vitter told the Times-Picayune: "I'm a lot more
like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary [Clinton]. If he does
something like that, I'm walking away with one thing,
and it's not alimony, trust me."
Vitter quickly became the Louisiana delegation's most
conservative member — against abortion even in cases of
rape and incest and against gambling — and he secured
power through his seat on the House Appropriations
Committee. There were whispers about Vitter having an
affair with a prostitute around the time he was
contemplating a gubernatorial run in 2002, but nothing
ever was reported in the mainstream media.
In May 2002, he opted out of that race, announcing that
he and Wendy had entered counseling because of the
"cumulative stress from working in a high-pressure job,
living in two cities, building a house, raising four
young kids including a newborn, having our campaign
activities based at home and traveling the state
considering a run for governor."
But the next year, after Sen. John Breaux, D-La.,
announced in 2003 that he wouldn't seek re-election,
Vitter within days announced he would run to succeed
him, and the national GOP did everything it could to
clear the way for the man who said he represented
"mainstream Louisiana values."
With President Bush running strong on top of the ticket
— and Vitter winning his home parish by a 5-1 ratio over
his chief opponent Rep. Chris John, D-La. — Vitter
avoided the state's odd runoff process by securing more
than 50 percent of the vote.
On Aug. 30, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina hit,
Vitter erroneously told the public that, "In the
metropolitan area in general, in the huge majority of
areas, [the water is] not rising at all. It's the same
or it may be lowering slightly. In some parts of New
Orleans, because of the 17th Street breach, it may be
rising and that seemed to be the case in parts of
downtown. I don't want to alarm everybody that, you
know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just
not happening."
He has perhaps been best known nationally for
criticizing the federal government's response to
Hurricane Katrina, opposing Supreme Court nominee
Harriet Miers, fighting for the Federal Marriage
Amendment and endorsing Giuliani.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3361462&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Making
a
sadder story just a little bit sadder still, today
the cops have revealed D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane
Palfrey's suicide note. Instead of blowing the lid of
Dick Cheney's particular perversions or David Vitter's
favorite style of Depends (logo of Elmo in wheelchair,
masturbating), the two-page note is a heartbreakingly
dull list of trivialities in grade-school girlish
handwriting.
