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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Why is David Vitter (R-La.) A U.S. Senator?

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate is established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution (which does not use the terms "upper" and "lower"). Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population.

The United States Senate is often described as the world's greatest deliberative body. Many of the most influential political leaders in U.S. history have served there. A total of fifteen senators later became President. Fourteen incumbent senators were nominated for President. Twenty-two senators later served as Vice President. Twenty-seven incumbent senators were nominated for Vice President. Nearly one hundred senators later governed their respective states.


The United States Senate has also been called the most exclusive club in the world.  It is an auspicious body with a renowned history.  Then we have David Vitter.
 
David Bruce Vitter (born May 3, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives, first elected in 1999, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district, Vitter was elected to the Senate in 2004.


Vitter was born and raised in New Orleans. He attended Harvard University for his undergraduate studies and Tulane University for law school in addition to winning a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives before entering the U.S. House.

Vitter identifies as a political conservative. His legislative agenda includes positions ranging from pro-life to pro-gun rights while legislating against gambling, same-sex marriage, federal funding for abortion providers, increases in the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the United Nations, and amnesty for America's illegal immigrants.

But Mr. Vitter may be more known for the many "issues" surrounding him.

In July 2007, Vitter was identified as a client of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey's prostitution service in Washington, D.C.   Deborah Jeane Palfrey  (March 18, 1956 – May 1, 2008) (dubbed the D.C. Madam by the news media) operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she argued that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008 of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering. Slightly over two weeks later, facing a prison sentence of five or six years, she was found hanged. Autopsy results and the final police investigative report concluded that her death was a suicide.

It seems Vitter just can't escape issues with women.  In a new article at Huffington Post it is reported that "David Vitter Under Fire From Women's Groups For Handling Of Abusive Aide."  According to the Huffington Post:
Women's groups and anti-domestic violence activist want to know why a "women's issues" aide to Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) who resigned last month after reports surfaced that he pled guilty to stabbing an ex-girlfriend in 2008, was allowed to stay with the Vitter campaign for two years following the incident.
One group, the National Organization for Women, has even called on the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to censure Vitter for his apparent acceptance of the behavior of the former aide, Brent Furer.
"This is not just Sen. Vitter making another lapse in judgment," Terry O'Neill, president of NOW, told ABC News. "This is about his utter disdain for the women of this country. It's important for the ethics committee to address this if the U.S. Senate wants to have standards that actually respect women."
NOW is planning to seek sanctions in order to force Sen. Vitter to publicly address his reasons for not terminating Furer at the campaign during, or even after, the legal proceedings.
What is it exactly that David Vitter's loyal employee do??  According to ABC News:


Arrest reports and court records describe the woman's account of the attack, which allegedly took place in Furer's apartment. She told police she was held against her will, stabbed in the hand, and cut so deeply on the chin that she required eight stitches. Furer pleaded guilty to three lesser charges and did not serve any jail time.

Other national groups echoed NOW's sentiment and harshly criticized Vitter for his lack of action against Furer.


"He should have denounced the actions and released the staffer," Brian Namey, a spokesperson for the National Network to End Domestic Violence told ABC News. "This is a person whose job it was to assist the senator on violence against women issue. That he of all people would be involved in an attack on a woman, it's particularly disturbing."

 I have previously written about the "esteemed" Mr. Vitter - see HERE and HERE
 
He admits to "sins" involving the D.C. Madame and keeps on staff a man who attacked a woman with a knife.  How can any women in Louisiana (or anywhere) vote for this man (I use that term lightly)?  
 
Not salacious enough for you?  Alter Net reports:
One of the Madams he was working with to procure women for him says he should be prosecuted (it is true that what he was doing actually is a crime) while another Madam says he "wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary" with her girls over the years (except that he was into a diaper fetish , just like Holy Joe).
"It's the hypocrisy that people can't stand. It's not the fact that people are frail and given to sinful behavior. It's when they try to pretend to be morally upright and end up being self-righteous because they preach one thing and live another."

Vitter was one of the Clinton attackers based on "moral" grounds. It turns out he was just jealous.  Please Mr. Vitter see a psychiatrist and go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under.

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