Vitter ethics complaint filed; Group seeks probe from Senate panel

20 Jul 2007 // Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee against Sen. David Vitter, R-La., asking the panel to determine whether his link to a Washington escort service violates the Senate's rules of conduct.

Melanie Sloan, a former Democratic congressional staffer who serves as the group's executive director, said Thursday that regardless of whether Vitter broke any criminal laws, the Senate may still discipline him for improper conduct.

Vitter's telephone number appeared on a list provided by the so-called D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Palfrey contends that her Pamela Martin and Associates is a legal business, but the Justice Department, in a criminal indictment against her, labeled it a prostitution ring.

After Hustler publisher Larry Flynt said July 9 that he found Vitter's phone number on Palfrey's list, the senator apologized for "a very serious sin in my past." He has not said whether he violated any laws. Soliciting a prostitute is a misdemeanor in Washington, D.C., and Louisiana, but the statute of limitations makes criminal prosecution of Vitter unlikely.

In an appearance Monday in Metairie with his wife, Wendy, Vitter said stories in The Times-Picayune and other news organizations linking him to a New Orleans brothel in the 1990s "are not true."

Vitter's office declined to comment on Thursday about the request for an ethics probe.

Probe appears unlikely

In a written statement on the Senate Ethics Committee's Web site, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the panel's chairwoman, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the vice chairman, said they can never comment on whether the committee has received a complaint against a member.

They said committee rules require that when a sworn complaint is filed, the panel promptly begins a preliminary inquiry to decide whether the complaint falls "within the jurisdiction of the committee."

Sloan acknowledged in an interview that the committee probably won't take up a complaint against Vitter. The phone records linking him to the D.C. Madam date back to the time Vitter served as a House member, Sloan said, and the Senate Ethics Committee generally doesn't look at conduct before a person became a member of the Senate.

Although Boxer has declined to comment about a possible investigation of Vitter, she talked soon after the D.C. Madam connection was reported that his personal conduct appears at odds with his strong advocacy for traditional marriage.

"You need to read his speech about marriage, and if you read that speech and compare it to his behavior, you can certainly conclude there is hypocrisy there," Boxer told The Associated Press last week. Boxer is chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, a panel in which Vitter is a member seeking authorization for Louisiana flood control and hurricane protection projects.

Vitter has said he has asked for and received forgiveness from his wife, Wendy, and believes he's received forgiveness from God.

Back into Iraq fray

On Thursday, Vitter's office put out a news release portraying the senator as fully engaged in his legislative duties once again. Last week, Vitter left Capitol Hill to be with his wife and four children after the revelation about his phone number appearing on the phone lists for Pamela Martin and Associates.

Vitter received a Pentagon briefing Thursday, along with other lawmakers, from Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. He also attended a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing with Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

"I think it is very important that we understand the facts as they are on the ground and not let policy be driven by armchair generals -- politicians -- here in Washington," Vitter said.

Vitter, who has advocated a series of benchmarks to measure progress in Iraq, said he nevertheless agrees with Crocker that other factors also must be taken into account. "I agree that we need to take into account all factors and not rely exclusively on these precisely defined benchmarks, which were written in Washington and not on the ground at the troop level," Vitter said.