Head of Conservative Group Linked to DC Madam

[romantico]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:06pm

The same conservatives who blasted Bill Clinton will no doubt defend those on her list!

Head Of Conservative Group, Big Military Names Linked To DC Madam
by The Associated Press

Posted: May 4, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET

(McLean, Virginia) A television newsmagazine plans to air on Friday what it has learned from the phone records of a woman accused of running a Washington, D.C.-area escort service that prosecutors contend was a prostitution ring.

The ABC News show "20/20" is to broadcast what it found in the 46 pounds of phone records Deborah Jeane Palfrey gave the network before a judge's order barring her from releasing them took effect.

Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, Calif., is charged in federal court with racketeering and money laundering associated with prostitution.

She contends that she ran Pamela Martin and Associates as a "legal, high-end erotic fantasy service" and that the women who worked for her signed contracts in which they promised not to have sex with clients. Prosecutors say she knew the 130 women she employed over 13 years engaged in prostitution.

Palfrey has said she gave ABC News the phone records because she hopes a network investigation of the records would compel customers to testify they did not engage in sexual conduct with the escorts.

Senior State Department official Randall Tobias resigned from his post last week after ABC confronted him about his use of the service. Tobias confirmed to the network that he used the service but denied that he had sex with the escorts.

In court papers filed last month, Palfrey named Harlan Ullman, known as an author of the "shock and awe" combat strategy, as a regular customer. Ullman has said the accusation does not merit a response.

On Thursday, a lawyer for Palfrey said an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy was one of the service's escorts and ABC reported that a secretary at a prominent law firm was another escort.

Montgomery Blair Sibley, Palfrey's civil attorney, confirmed a report in the Navy Times that an academy instructor worked as an independent contractor for Palfrey's service. Sibley said he didn't know whether the person is still at the academy.

An academy spokeswoman said she had no information about Sibley's claim.

ABC said a legal secretary at the Akin Gump law firm was suspended after telling her bosses that she had been secretly working as one of Palfrey's escorts. ABC did not name the woman, who told Akin Gump she expects to be a government witness in the case.

The network has said the list of Palfrey's customers also includes a Bush administration economist, a prominent chief executive officer, the head of a conservative think tank, lobbyists and military officials.

Palfrey and the Internet radio station wsRadio.com will auction tapes of five one-hour interviews with her next week, The Washington Post reported for Friday's editions. The bids will start at $5,000.

The station's president, Chris Murch, would not disclose details of the contract to the newspaper but said Palfrey will donate 10 percent of the proceeds to charity.

Prosecutors raised the prospect this week that Palfrey could jump bail now that she's been removed from electronic monitoring, pointing out that she's done it before.

In 1991, she skipped out on her pending trial for pimping out women and other charges in California, leaving only a long, rambling letter with her attorney.

"Prison is an absurd and unthinkable horror for me to embrace for simply being an enterprising business person," she wrote. "For God's sake, I was only running an escort service!"

She claimed - much as she claims now - that her lawyers failed her and that police and prosecutors were out to get her.

A few months later she was arrested in Montana at the Canadian border. It is not entirely clear whether she was leaving the country or seeking to re-enter. She was later sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to attempted pimping.

In the current case, she has also complained about alleged prosecutorial misconduct and her court-appointed lawyer.

In court this week, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler agreed to give her a new attorney because of "irreconcilable differences."

Palfrey is using court-appointed attorneys. The government has seized most of her assets, accusing her of laundering more than $2 million in revenue from the business.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/05/050407madam.htm

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:08pm

"The same conservatives who blasted Bill Clinton will no doubt defend those on her list!"

I "blast" anyone who does this on either side. However, I hope you can see the difference between this and Bill Clinton doing it with an intern in the Oval Office?

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:12pm

...or a Foley with a Page maybe?

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:15pm

Yes.

The difference is prostitution is illegal.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:16pm

So funny to see The Daily Show replay Sean Hannity's defense the other day. And he actually expects us to believe these people are getting nothing more than massages. "Some people are just lonely." Guh.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:26pm

Thank god Bill lowered the bar for the Dems...he kinda gave them a free ride on the sex scandals--since the Dems were the first to claim it's a personal matter and the Repubs were on the attack, any scandal on their side of the aisle is going to affect their numbers much more than it would a Dem candidate.

Reap what you sow, folks....

[romantico]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:29pm

Actually Goth, I don't see the difference. I'm sure there are Democrats on that list as well but The White House is VERY nervous about this list. Jeff Gannon is a regualr at the White House. That seems okay to some to have a male gay prostitute coming and going at the Bush White House. Oh but wait a minute......What about Bill Clinton?

Yeah, he lied (unlike Bush or anyone in his administration)I love the bumper sticker I see so often, "No one died when Clinton lied". So true!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:40pm

There are better ways of making a living than prostitution, but few are more remunerative. It isn't called the oldest profession for nix.

As long as the women (or men) are in a house with security and back-up at hand, I do not understand what the problem is.

I am, of course as curious as anyone as to who is on the client list, while recognizing that as consenting adults it is none of my damn business.

At the end of the day this is a non-issue. There are some things that ought to remain private.

But talk about a free open market. This could make a capitalist break into a cold sweat and a hot flash.