By Bruce Alpert, New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 9, 2008

9 May 2008 // The Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday decided not to pursue an investigation into a watchdog group's complaint that Sen. David Vitter's connection to a Washington escort service may have violated Senate rules.

But the panel said it would be "reprehensible" if he, in fact, had solicited prostitutes.

The six-member panel, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, said it decided not to pursue the matter because the conduct alleged in the watchdog group's complaint occurred before the Louisiana Republican ran for the Senate in 2004 and that Vitter was never accused of a crime, or of using his public office for improper purposes.

"Based upon these specific grounds, the committee has determined that it should not further exercise its jurisdiction over this matter at this time," the senators wrote in their letter to Vitter.

But they added that the committee "reserves the right to reopen an investigation should new allegations or evidence be brought to our attention."

Vitter's office did not respond Thursday to a request for a comment.

--- No formal findings ---

While the Ethics Committee made no formal findings, "we note for the record that Deborah Jean Palfrey of Pamela Martin & Associates, whose services you have been publicly linked to, was found guilty of operating an interstate prostitution ring in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 15, 2008." Palfrey committed suicide last week, saying in letters to her mother and sister that she couldn't abide returning to jail for a second time.

The committee's letter also makes note of Vitter's statement on July, 9, 2007, in which he acknowledged, "This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible."

The committee said the "decision to dismiss this matter without prejudice should not be taken as personal approbation or acceptance by any of the members 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."

Signing the letter were Ethics Panel Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Vice Chairman John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Pat Roberts, R-Kansas; Ken Salazar, D-Colo.; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

--- Decision condemned ---

The complaint against Vitter was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which condemned the panel's decision not to take any action against the Louisiana senator.

"The Senate Ethics Committee has once again done what it does best: nothing," said Naomi Seligman, the group's deputy director.

The panel could have issued a letter of public admonition, as it did Feb. 14 in the case of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, after his arrest and guilty plea last summer in an undercover sex string in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport. Although committee members would not comment, their letter makes it clear that their decision to dismiss the Vitter complaint was made because no charges have been filed against Vitter and because the alleged conduct occurred before he became a candidate and won election to the Senate in 2004.

At the time his phone number is said to have appeared on the so-called D.C. Madam's phone list, Vitter was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a footnote to its Vitter announcement, the Ethics Committee revealed that Vitter's attorney had requested twice that Boxer, the panel's chairwoman, recuse herself.

After reports last July that Vitter's phone number had appeared on records of the Washington escort service, Boxer was quoted by The Associated Press as saying: "You need to read his speech about marriage, and if you read that speech and compare it to his behavior, you can certainly conclude there is hypocrisy there."

Vitter had made statements calling marriage "the most fundamental social institution in human history" as he argued for a constitutional amendment classifying marriage as between a man and a woman.

The entire two-page Ethics Committee letter to Vitter can be read at the panel's Web site: http://ethics.senate.gov/.