BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Deborah Palfrey, the D.C. Madam, was found guilty today.

She had repeatedly denied that the escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.

Palfrey caused a sensation last year when she announced that to raise money for her defense, she intended to sell her phone records to any news outlet willing to pay. Palfrey said her defunct business, Pamela Martin & Associates, was “a legal, high-end erotic fantasy service” that serviced elite clients.

She was convicted on all counts she faced: money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering.

Selling the phone records to a news outlet to raise money for her defense seems like a scene from a made for TV movie, or perhaps an episode of “Dirty Rotten Money”.  From the way the verdict went today, it seems that Ms. Palfrey was almost as doomed as the television program.

I don’t know why I am sympathetic to the woman, but I am.  Or, perhaps, I’m suffering some of the bitterness towards Washington that Barack Obama spoke of.  Perhaps, the fact that Senator David Vitter said that he was sorry and continued his political career without so much as a slap on the hand is enough to make me disheartened with “the system”.  I don’t have anything against men, per se, but this isn’t the first case where political figures have been caught with their pants down and walked away Scott free after saying a few words of contrition.  It’s almost as if the Capitol has become the place for confession and contrition without paying any penance.  Perhaps… just perhaps, if the system would prosecute the johns, prostitution would not be such a problem.  But, it seems that the men have nothing to lose… and in the cases in Washington, most of the wives are so invested in the security and prominence of their husbands that they are willing to put up with it.  I just bet it would be different if the men who sought out the ladies of the evening got jail time.

But, instead, the list of prominent men who get by with their little trysts seems to grow.

the trial concluded without revealing many new details about the service or its clients. Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, was among possible witnesses but did not take the stand.

Vitter has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey’s escort service. But after issuing brief statements apologizing for “a very serious sin,” he has avoided follow-up questions.

Harlan Ullman, a military strategist who created the concept of “shock and awe” that the United States used to open hostilities against Iraq, also did not testify.

Palfrey says Ullman was a regular client; Ullman has declined to discuss what he has called “outrageous allegations.” Randall L. Tobias, who resigned as a deputy secretary of state after acknowledging to ABC News that he used Palfrey’s service for massages, also did not testify.

Personally, I’m not so sure that prostitution should be a criminal offense.  But, if it is… and it is… shouldn’t both participants be punished?  This evening Deborah Palfrey is looking at a jail term and the johns, another notch on their belts, are looking forward to promising political futures.