Posted on 07/13/2007 1:23:45 AM PDT by leadpenny
Fri Jul 13, 12:14 AM ET
WASHINGTON - A woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring placed five phone calls to David Vitter while he was a House member, including two while roll call votes were under way, according to telephone and congressional records.
Vitter, a Louisiana Republican now in the Senate, acknowledged Monday that his number was on the woman's call list and apologized for a "very serious sin." The married father of four has remained in seclusion since, missing Senate votes and other activities Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Telephone records released by Deborah Jeane Palfrey indicate she placed calls that were answered by Vitter's Washington phone on five occasions while Vitter was in the House, from 1999 through 2001. On four of those five days, the House was in session and Vitter participated in every roll call vote.
One day was particularly busy in the House, with Vitter's phone receiving Palfrey's call in the middle of the eighth recorded vote of the day, at 5:06 p.m., according to the records.
The records do not indicate whether Vitter himself took the calls or if another person, an answering machine or another answering device picked up the calls.
Federal prosecutors have accused Palfrey of running a prostitution ring beginning in 1993. She says her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legitimate business offering sexual fantasies.
Palfrey has said her practice was to promptly return calls placed to her company, to verify the caller's identity and decide whether to arrange an appointment with one of her female employees. All types of researchers are now poring over the thousands of numbers she has released in the hope, Palfrey says, of locating defense witnesses for her case.
Vitter, 46, moved to Washington after winning a special House election in May 1999. His wife and children remained back home, as do many lawmakers' families.
According to the published phone records, the first call placed from Palfrey's phone to Vitter's was at 5:57 p.m. on Oct. 12, 1999, a Tuesday. Vitter participated in three House roll call votes that day, beginning at 7:45 p.m.
On Monday, Sept. 18, 2000, Palfrey called Vitter's phone at 6:36 p.m., records indicate. Vitter joined 376 colleagues at about that time in voting to approve the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program Act. The roll call began at 6:30 p.m., according to House records, and ended at 6:39.
Lawmakers often spend only seconds or minutes to vote in the House chamber and then leave to make calls, check messages or chat with aides or colleagues.
Palfrey's third call to Vitter's phone was placed at 5:06 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2000, a Thursday. Vitter voted in all 10 roll calls that day, starting at midmorning and ending well after dark. Palfrey's phone call came during a 21-minute recorded vote in which Vitter joined most of his GOP colleagues in approving the Small Business Investment Act.
The fourth call was placed at 4:39 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2001, a Sunday. The fifth was placed at 3:06 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2001, more than two hours before Vitter voted in the day's only House roll call. It was Mardi Gras, an especially festive day in New Orleans, which is near Vitter's home town of Metairie.
The calls were first reported by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
Vitter, a Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, was elected to the Senate in 2004. He faces re-election in 2010.
That reflects on you.
I agree with your opinion of me. It takes more than a recylcled hit piece from the Drive-By Media about a ten-year-old fling with a whore to make me turn on one of my conservative heroes. Only three weeks ago, Vitter was hailed as a hero here on FR after his leadership on the amnesty bill.
Conversely, in my opinion, it reflects badly upon you that you turn on our friends at the first whiff of gunpowder.
Ditto.
Ditto again!
COMMENT:
Go ahead and use it all you want.
I got it from an old man who worked with me on an oilfield roustabout crew.
He would say “Jimmy Goobers Carter and Democrat leadership is a lot like nuthin and nuthin is equal to a turd with all the sh!t scraped off’.
They are trying to pressure him into resigning while that pathetic pile of mindless goo is still governor and can appoint a rat in his place.
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After signing off the computer earlier today, a thought crossed my mind. Is this whole thing a setup?
According to the article, Palfrey set up "shop" in 1993. Was it just a coincidence that she came to Washington shortly after Clinton?
Before you break out your tin foil hat, just think for a minute. Bill and Hill have used the FBI records as blackmail. Why can't a madam use phone records to blackmail politicians (and bureaucrats) in Washington?
If you notice, the madam has phone records. NOT of who called HER, but rather who SHE called. IIRC, she has a list of several thousand phone numbers. She could have just gone through the DC phone book and got the numbers of all these people, and began calling them. Probably most hung up on her - but unfortunately for them, there is now "public record" of them communicating with a madam.
On a related theory, perhaps Vitter, who was new to Washington in 1999. This was around the time of Monica. I wouldn't be surprised if Vitter, who was living in DC while the rest of his family was in Louisiana, got bored and lonely.
Who's to say that Vitter wasn't invited to a cocktail party to meet some "movers and shakers" in Washington. It was a mixed crowd with lots of good looking women around (Palfrey's employees). It doesn't take much to get Vitter's name, look up his phone number and give him a call. Later, Palfrey would call Vitter and inform him that the party that he attended was full of Hookers...and that his wife wouldn't be to happy.
Its possible that this whole thing could be a very subtle form of blackmail that has been going on for years - until Palfrey got arrested.
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