The Daily Background
| Is there a second Senator in the “DC Madam” call logs?
by Arlen Parsa
Here’s a question for you. Who had the number 202-224-9655 back in 1998?
Why is it important? Well, 202 happens to be a Washington DC area code, and 224 happens to be the prefix designated to all Senate telephones. In other words, that number contacted you to an office in the US Senate. Now, why does this matter? Because it’s one of the thousands of numbers on Jeane Palfrey’s phone records (Palfrey, you’ll remember is the “DC Madam” who has been accused of running a high-end prostitution service). Does Senator Vitter have company?
There was a brief call between someone at this number and Palfrey the day after Christmas in 1998. What’s interesting is that 224 is the prefix for Senate phone numbers. The obvious question, then, is, who in a Senate office was talking to the DC Madam? Could it have been a senator? Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who has acknowledged calling her service, was not elected to the Senate until 2004. Or was it a Senate aide looking to take advantage of her services? Or was it a Senate employee working for the escort service? Or did someone dial a wrong number?
On-line searches of the number have yielded no clues. And I have yet to discover a searchable Senate phone directory from 1998. Thus, this clue remains just a clue.
Intriguing nonetheless. Meanwhile, a New Orleans call-girl is defending Vitter because she says he treated her nicely, and paid her handsomely. Probably not the person he’d like running to his defense at the moment. Vitter himself? He’s nowhere to be found, reports Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Vitter has apparently vanished into thin air, leaving his Senate duties unattended, and he’s not at home either. Milbank also reports:
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), approached by a group of reporters outside the lunch, offered an unexpected defense. “All of us have to look at it and say that we could be next,” he said in answer to a Vitter question. “We all think that we’re not vulnerable to something like that happening, but the fact is this can be a very lonely and isolating place.”
Yikes. Might other senators be on the Madam’s list? Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) jabbed a playful elbow at the questioner. “Note a swift elbow to the ribs,” he instructed.
As Cornyn threw the elbow, Vitter’s spokesman continued to duck inquiries about the senator’s location. “I’m not allowed to talk about that,” the office receptionist said. On the senator’s Web site, the latest item under the “Recent News” section was from June 29: “Vitter Applauds FDA Ban on Chinese Seafood.”
