Here is a
link to a video of Jeff Crouere's
Ringside Politics TV show that aired this weekend. Journalist Chris Tidmore, Republican Vincent Bruno and Vinny Mosca (the Canal St. Madam's lawyer) were all guests. Bruno and Tidmore reviewed the history of the Wendy Cortez angle to the L'affaire Vitter.
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Update: Here are particular portions of the video that I wanted to transcribe and save in print. (I believe this is accurate, but make no guarantees.) :
Crouere: ...Should [Vitter] resign?
Tidmore: I think at this point, yes... one of the things that's going on with David Vitter is this wasn't a one-time indiscretion. Most people could forgive that. This, and I can guarantee having interviewed Wendy Cortez, been backed up by the Times Picayune and their allegations now-- is that this is a pattern of behavior we have seen over the years, over and over, and at the time that David Vitter denied, used very colorful metaphors... to me privately to deny that this had happened, he was actually seeing the D.C. Madam. So I think that goes over the limit and it's tarnishing Louisiana's reputation nationally.
Crouere: Basically he said the New Orleans stories are not true.... Without any more concrete evidence linking him to any of these New Orleans prostitutes, the story ends, doesn't it Chris?
Tidmore: Unless something more comes out.... I want to tell you that the Times Picayune reported only a very small percentage of the information they had. And Politically, I couldn't understand Mr. Vitter's justification to say 'I'm sorry for Washington but nothing happened in New Orleans' because, effectively Jeff, he threw the gauntlet down to the press, and if there is anything else out there, it's coming out.
In the next segment of the show featured the Canal Street Madam's lawyer, Vinny Mosca.
Mosca: I never had any knowledge of [Vitter] visiting the Canal St. brothel. Jeanette [Maier] did tell me, that, later, after I said what I said that 'You know Vinny, he was a customer of mine in the early nineties.' I said 'Well, Jeanette, I wouldn't have any knowledge of that. The only thing I can represent is what I knew at the time the investigation was going on'.
...
Crouere: Has this exposure from the Vitter case helped her or hurt her [Maier]?
Mosca: Depends who you talk to. You know, If you talk to Jeanette, she's trying to help him [Vitter].
Crouere: The Times Picayune ran a story about .... Wendy Cortez, linking her to David Vitter. Did she ever work with Jeanette in the Canal Street brothel?
Mosca: ....Wendy Cortez was an independent individual.... Now, Jeanette believes she worked for her at some point in time. But I notice in the newspaper that Jeanette said that wasn't Wendy's picture that was in the paper. And then later Jeanette indicated to me 'no it really was her picture', but she didn't want ...to say it was her because she wanted to protect her. Then she got a phone call from somebody who said "That's not Wendy [Cortez]"....
Crouere: So there's confusion?
Mosca: There's confusion everywhere.
It's interesting that Tidmore says that "a very small percentage" of what the T-P knows has been reported. Also, it's interesting that Jeanette believed Wendy Cortez worked for her at one point, but then,
in an effort to "protect" her, said that the T-P's picture of Wendy Cortez was not the Wendy Cortez that worked for her. And then, someone presumably "in the know" called Jeanette and told her that she was actually correct when she said that wasn't the Wendy Cortez that worked for her and was linked to Vitter.
So this is still a very puzzling aspect of the story. But the key thing to note is that Maier will perhaps shade the truth (as she believes it) when she is protecting someone. In Maier's mind, apparently, Cortez worked for her at one point. But Maier didn't want to identify the photo of Cortez which the T-P showed her, because she wanted to protect Cortez.
Similarly, Maier thought she was defending David Vitter in the
Times Picayune story when she linked him to her Canal St. brothel. In that story, she claimed Vitter was a "good man". According to her lawyer she said Vitter was a patron of the brothel in the early nineties, which roughly conforms to what
she told CNN on 7/11:
[CNN]: Jeanette Maier says she first met Vitter in New Orleans back in the late '80s or early '90s. She can't remember. Maier spent much of Tuesday talking with various media outlets about this story. We have no proof of her allegations, only Maier's word.
MAIER: "So I had girls that worked, and girls come back and say, you know, that they had partied and they were with David. Like I gave a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I was always taught not to -- hey, the least I know the better off I am."
So, was Maier also trying to "protect" Vitter when she
seemed to volunteer to the Times Picayune that Vitter "was not a freak. He was not into anything unusual or kinky or weird"?
In Chris Tidmore's view, Vitter has "thrown down the gauntlet" to the press. Jeff Crouere believes the story will die unless "concrete evidence" is produced. So, by saying the "New Orleans stories" are "not true", Vitter is practically challenging the media to expose the incriminating details of his past acts with prostitutes. This opens the door for more pain and embarrassment all around. I wonder what Vitter's defense will be after Flynt inevitably starts airing specific details of Vitter's past actions. "If the diaper doesn't fit, you must acquit"?
Labels: Canal Street Madam, Tidmore, Vitty-cent
7 Comments:
It's interesting to me that Vitter's enemies in Louisiana are Republicans and NOT Democrats, contrary to one would be led to believe if all they watched was cable news.
This Democrat doesn't care about his affair....I care about results....I care about legislation being signed into law....I do too much work indepently on my own writing Congress to be hating Republicans and I have spent thousand of dollars writing to both Democrats and Republicans constantly engaging Congress and getting excellent results....
I wouldn't have gotten all that I have acomplished if I were to play partisan politics....Louisiana wouldn't have gotten the bill passed into law that now grants us a share of oil and gas revenue without Republican Senator Pete Domenici.....Senator Landrieu couldn't gotten it done all by herself....She needed a co-sponsor and it is as simple as that....
I need the Republicans on my side just as well as I need the Democrats on my side in order to see the things accomplished that I am trying to accomplish for this state.....
Let me put on my old green eyeshade and ask this question: If Tidmore knows what the TP knows there may be some reason he's not run with it, either. If neither can get it past the lawyers it may not come out, unless they all know of a source who could corroberate but won't talk at this time.
Larry Flynt doesn't know anything about Senator Vitter he is getting third party information and that is the trouble with all this stuff....Anybody's number could be on there as Palfrey just returned calls to verify them....My phone number could be on there....I fax and mail Congress Constantly....I send hundreds of faxes to D.C. I could have misdialed.....This stuff is getting ridiculous and I don't care about it....But in typical fatalistic "Louisiana" fashion we are going to once again "cut off the nose to spite the face".....Once again Louisiana is doing what it does best and that is "doing very little with a lot" and not "doing a lot with what we've got".....The entire nation is watching us and sees this BUT us.....But then again I can see it because I lived in other states besides Louisiana and I can actually take a step back and see that this state has a lot of hangups that has been around for centuries......
Sharon, you think Vitter can be an effective Senator after all this?
Also, Vitter apologized for a serious sin in regards to his (at least) 5 phone calls to the Madam. There's no chance he just "misdialed", or that the Madam misdialed his #. While you were writing letters to Senators, he missed a week of work. Soon he might be testifying about his role in a racketeering case in DC. IMO he has lied about his "pattern of behavior" before, and he lied about it again last week when he denied the New Orleans stories.
More will come out about this hypocritical liar, and it will not reflect well on the state's "face", I can assure you.
I'm not into signing recall petitions...I haven't signed one yet concerning anybody.....I don't think that is the way to go about doing things.....You'd have to have another election anyway and he still might remain in office....Other than that he would have to resign or be expelled by the Senate to even get anywhere.....I don't think the Senate is going to be expelling Senator Vitter....You won't recall Senator Vitter and it doesn't matter to me because I can work around things that go on in Congress and I have a proven track record and you can ask Senator Landrieu as she does know me....I think I even surprised John Edwards and a whole lot of others at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner with my passion and my intensity to make a difference...
Politics, my friend OYSTER, doesn't exist in a vaccum so don't let anybody fool you.....Do you think that politicians just show up for no reason at events?? No they show up because they are interested in the "driving force" behind the politicians and I found that out....That is why when I first met Senator Landrieu in August of last year she automatically knew who I was.....I didn't say a word to her.... It was SHE who literally ran up to ME and said "I wanna thank you...I wanna give you a hug..."
And I hardly doubt that in March of this year General Honore was just hanging out at the same Lafayette Hilton during the exact time that Governor's Women's Convention was being held simply because he had nothing else to do and decided to check into the hotel for the weekend.....
My Senator automatically knew who I was in a crowd of people down in Cameron Parish last summer and I surprised a lot of people last night with my connection to her.....That's why I get that trademark "wink" from her and most people don't.....
I also suspect that John Edwards knew that I was the one who sent him some Mardi Gras beads to his headquarters but I didn't tell him it was me even though I was wearing a pair like the ones that I has sent to him....
The things that you think Congress wouldn't understand they do understand and the things that you figure they would understand you would be surprised to find out that they don't.....As far as this goes I can definitely work around it and I have faced bigger obstacles.....
Some of my observations from the video:
* Wendy Cortez worked for "French Quarter Escort Services," not Canal Street. That was conflict was resolved to my satisfaction.
* The Times-Pic still has a lot more on Wendy Vitter. What are they holding back and WHY?!?!?! Yet another reason I refuse to subscribe...
* Bruno and Tidmore called for his resignation.
* Bruno talked about Vitter jokes on MySpace. Any clue which ones he's talking about?
* The lawyer talked about how the Canal Street Madam said that Vitter was a client in the EARLY 90's and they had first met in the late 80's. What was he doing in the late 80's to bump into the Madam? If that holds true, and the 2006 rumor holds, then HE'S BEEN GETTING SERVICED BY HOOKERS ALMOST AS LONG AS I'VE BEEN ALIVE!
* Lots of names from Canal Street are coming soon...
