RC: Do you believe that the prostitute he used in the past was a separate person from the "DC Madam" escort he used?
CT: There is little doubt we are speaking of at least two different people.
Wendy Cortez lived in New Orleans, and relocated to Atlanta after Vitter’s election to Congress. She had no links to the DC Madam. In the interviews with Wendy Cortez, she said that she met Vitter independently, through a friend, and visited him at a small apartment at the corner of Dumaine and Dauphine Streets in the French Quarter.
The Madam of the raided Canal Street Brothel has begun to say that Wendy Cortez worked independently of her, but was a special favorite of Vitter’s.
Ultimately, I believe that Wendy Cortez was a separate case was due to the way she described that the relationship between her and Vitter ending. Their tryst reportedly lasted eleven months. Wendy C. had been using the name “Leah”, but Vitter asked her what her real name was. Apparently, seeing a call girl with the same name as his wife was a bit too intense for the-then State Representative....
This information helped clear up some questions I had which related to how the Canal Street Madam's story "fit" with the Wendy Cortez story. Then, Tidmore describes the lengths to which Vitter attempted to discredit him.
RC: How far did Vitter go to discredit you when you were a reporter?
CT: Quite far. He used his influence to deny job opportunities that were presented to me, as he did to others related to the story, and publicly said repeatedly that not only were the stories lies, but they were politically motivated to destroy him.
What is interesting about the last charge was that I had no political agenda against Vitter. Ideologically, we agree on most issues, and I was quite fond of him as a reformist politician when he was in the legislature. At the time of his election to Congress, he considered me a quite sympathetic reporter.
But, my job required me to pursue the truth—to confront a pattern of hypocrisy and lies.
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Thanks to We Saw That for the link. Check out WST for the latest on another (male) GOP pol who solicited the services of a prostitute. Only in this case the prostitute was also a man.
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Update: Also, to see State GOP party member (and former Dukkke advisor) Vincent Bruno labeled one of the world's "worst people", go see this vid from Keith Olberman's show.
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Update#2: There is still a lot, a whole lot, about the Canal Street Madam's claims that doesn't fit well into any plausible rendering of the big picture.
Labels: Tidmore, Vitty-cent