Senator Vitter on Marriage, God, and an apology and an intriguing story from Salon
STOP PRESS 10/7/07 3.00 EST
Daily Kos Sun Oct 24, 2004 at 09:59:09 PM PDT
"The irony is that Vitter dropped out of that governor's race last year because of an affair with a prostitute and has an illegitimate child with another woman. No big scoop -- this is all out in the open and well-known in the state, yet Vitter is still running on a "family values" platform and obviously getting away with it."
Read more here how this Catholic churchman campaigned for Family values
Senator Vitter on being found with his pants down ;
"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"
Feral Cat got his hands on the first draft ...
This was a very serious screw up on my part as I got caught. Next time I will be more careful sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter said in the statement. “Several years ago, I switched to a more discrete “massage service” asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of concern for my political career respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there - with my new more discrete “massage service” God and them. But I certainly hope this nonsense will fool everybody offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”
By the way he gets a 100% rating by Dr Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition on Marriage
There is a super picture on Flikr of Mr Guiliani and Mr Vitter as Vitter endorses Guiliani in the South - full details on the Guiliani blog. Have a look before it gets pulled
It appears however according to a Salon expose 29/10/2004 this was not his first experience of hookers .... "There is a house in New Orleans"
"Vitter grew up in a well-to-do family in New Orleans. After graduating from Harvard University, he attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship and earned a law degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. He served in the Louisiana House from 1991 to 1999...
"As Vitter geared up in 2002 to run for governor, his bitter race against Treen came back to haunt him. A Treen supporter, local Republican Party official Vincent Bruno, blurted out on a radio show that he believed Vitter had once had an extramarital affair.
The Louisiana Weekly newspaper followed up. Bruno told the paper that the young woman had contacted the Treen campaign in 1999 because she was upset that Vitter was portraying himself as a family-values conservative and trotting out his wife and children for campaign photo ops. Bruno, who declined to comment for this story, and John Treen interviewed the woman, who said she had worked under the name "Leah."
But after nearly a year of regular paid assignations with Vitter, the lawmaker asked her to divulge her real name, according to Treen, citing the account he said she gave him. Her name was Wendy Cortez, Treen said. (Pic is Mr Giuliani and SEn. Vitter and his wife Wendy March 12th 2007 - how long will Vitter nahg around as Southern Campaign Chairman ?)
She said Vitter's response was electric. "He said, 'Oh, my God! I can't see you anymore," John Treen told me, citing the woman's account to him and noting that Vitter's wife is also named Wendy. And Wendy Vitter does not appear to be the indulgent type.
Asked by an interviewer in 2000 whether she could forgive her husband if she learned he'd had an extramarital affair, as Hillary Clinton and Bob Livingston's wife had done, Wendy Vitter told the Times-Picayune: "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."
Vitter, Bruno and others interviewed the alleged prostitute several times in 1999. She also met with a respected local television reporter, Richard Angelico, the Louisiana Weekly said. But Angelico declined to run with the story after she would not agree to go on camera, the paper said. Vitter denied the allegations. But shortly before the Louisiana Weekly was set to publish its story, he dropped out of the governor's race, saying he needed to deal with marital problems. "Our [marriage] counseling sessions have ... led us to the rather obvious conclusion that it's not time to run for governor," Vitter said at the time.
Chris Tidmore, the author of the Louisiana Weekly story, said he interviewed the alleged prostitute by telephone and reviewed the notes of her sessions with Treen and Bruno before publishing his story. He said she had moved away from New Orleans and is now living under an assumed name. Salon could not locate her.
Amid Vitter's denials and the reluctance of his accuser to go public, no newspapers in Louisiana reported on the allegations. And, when Sen. Breaux announced his retirement last December, Vitter jumped into the race to succeed the conservative Democrat. The far-right and confrontational Vitter was the opposite of Breaux, who had been a consensus-builder in Washington with close relationships with Republican...."
There is more on this story 29th December 2003 in the Louisiana Weekly here
Right Hand Thief has some fascinating detail at the same time about Vitter, marriage, temper tantrums etc.,
Washington Post have now picked up the story as has the Guradian which prints the AP story. Fox News now have the story. ....etc
