GOP senator admits link to escort service

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/4850.html

GOP senator admits link to escort service
By: Carrie Budoff
July 9, 2007

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) acknowledged Monday night that his number appears on telephone records of the alleged D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, and issued an apology.

“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter said in a statement released by his office.

“Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling,'' he added. "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 did not disclose exactly when the incidents took place, but said it was before he ran for the Senate in 2004.

Vitter, 46, then became Louisiana’s first Republican senator since the end of Reconstruction and has built a reputation as a solid conservative, opposing abortion rights, same-sex marriage and gun control. Last month, he took a leading role in efforts to kill the comprehensive immigration overhaul bill.

A Harvard graduate and former Rhodes Scholar, he was elected to the House in 1999, filling the seat vacated by Rep. Bob Livingston, who was headed toward the House speakership in 1998 when he was forced to reveal his marital infidelities.

In 2000, Vitter was included in a Newhouse News Service story about the strain of congressional careers on families.

His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse reporter: If her husband were as unfaithful as Livingston or former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Rodham Clinton?

“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

“I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage,” she added. “Don’t put fear down.”

Vitter’s revelation Monday comes a month after Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million for information about illicit sexual relations with members of Congress. Flynt made a same pitch in October 1998, playing a role in Livingston's outing.

Palfrey posted the complete phone records of her client list on the Internet Monday night. The list for Pamela Martin and Associates dates back to 1994.

She is accused of running a prostitution ring catering to Washington’s elite. She faces federal racketeering and conspiracy charges based on allegations that she earned $2 million operating a prostitution service from 1993 to 2006.

Palfrey, however, has said that her company was a legal operation that offered sexual fantasy services.

Her lawyer, Montgomery Sibley Blair, began distributing copies of the phone records to the media last week after a judge lifted an injunction that had previously prevented Palfrey from doing so.