Panel rejects complaint against Vitter

9 May 2008 // The Senate ethics committee Thursday rejected a complaint against Sen. David Vitter by a government watchdog group that questioned whether he violated Senate rules by having a relationship with a Washington escort service.

In a letter to Vitter, R-La., the ethics panel said it dismissed the complaint, filed nearly a year ago, because his relationship to an escort service run by "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey "occurred before your Senate candidacy and service" and did not result in criminal charges or involve the use of public office.

"The Senate Ethics Committee has once again done what it does best: nothing," said Naomi Seligman, deputy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group that filed the complaint against Vitter.

Vitter's office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Palfrey was found dead of an apparent suicide at her mother's home in Florida last week.

She had just been found guilty of federal racketeering and money laundering charges and faced jail time.

"While Deborah Jeane Palfrey ... was found guilty of operating a prostitution ring, Sen. Vitter has not been held accountable for his activities. He walks away without even a slap on the wrist," Seligman said.

Vitter apologized for "a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible" after his telephone number was found on Palfrey's phone logs last summer by a writer for Hustler magazine.

Vitter has declined to say anything else about his relationship with Palfrey's escort service.

The Senate ethics committee said in the letter "that this decision to dismiss this matter without prejudice should not be taken as personal approbation or acceptance by any member of the committee of the kind of conduct alleged in this matter."

"In fact, if proven to be true, the members of the committee would find the alleged conduct of solicitation for prostitution to be reprehensible," the letter said.

The committee also advised Vitter of its authority to reopen the investigation should new allegations or evidence be brought to its attention.