Gagging a Hooker – To Protect the Elite?

posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:04 PM Permalink

I think this is one of the funnier stories lately to come out of Washington, which has been largely absorbed with Republican criminality, more damage to America from the continuing Iraqi War, bellicose sword-waving at Iran, calling Cuba and Venezuela great new threats to their neighbors, and bush's phony-baloney South American trip that gets him out of Washington, away from the Scooter conviction fallout, and down where he can pretend to be the most omnipotent man on the planet. Without the laughter growing too loud, that is.

After the way Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld were treated last year bush is not likely to find the environment in South and latin America conducive to more American B.S..

Naw, what I'm talking about is reminiscent of the Heidy Fleiss scandal in California, you remember, the touching story of how a young girl rose up through the ranks of prostitutes to become one of the world's most famous Madams and who happened to keep meticulous records of johns, their preferences, address and phone number data, and all the right ingredients to pander to the baser instincts of voyeurs everywhere. Ah, yes. Exciting times.

Now we have an almost identical story of how a former California-convicted prostitute set her sights on Washington and its Elite Members (Hey, that's one of those double entendre things isn't it?), established her "escort service", serviced thousands of those Elite Members, retaining the names, sexual preferences, numbers and addresses of her client, and now, having suffered the misfortune of being arrested she is considering selling her "john book" to the highest bidder to pay her legal fees.

In an effort to stop her from releasing such "sensitive information" government lawyers have applied for a gag order to bar her from releasing any information regarding her clients. See this article at The Smoking Gun:

Federal prosecutors want to gag an indicted former Washington, D.C. madam who has recently threatened to go public with details about her former customers.…[Deborah] Palfrey, 50, was indicted last week on racketeering and money laundering charges stemming from her operation of the Pamela Martin & Associates escort service, which closed last summer after 13 years in business.…[From the government's motion for a gag order] Shortly before and after the indictment was returned in this matter, stories started appearing in the media in which defendant is reported as threatening to sell her phone records from her escort service dating back to 1993 to raise money for her defense fund…The media has also reported that the defendant has made statements that could be considered veiled threats to cause embarrassment to former customers and employees of her excort business…some of the personal information about former customers and employees of defendant’s business is also sensitive based on the nature of that business.…Moreover, once this litigation is complete, such materials, including copies in document or electronic form, should be returned to the government…

The implications are quite clear. The employees and customers of Madam Palfrey are themselves criminals and unworthy of any protection to prevent the revealing of their identities. If justice is really the aim of this prosecution, then all relevant information on fellow criminals should be entered into the public record of the case. That this is not being done seems to be a departure from standard prosecutions as there is certainly no information that contains any state secrets, exposes the identities of undercover spies, or betrays any battle plans to al-Qaede.

No, here we have the government actively seeking a gag order to prevent embarrassment to the johns who are undoubtedly, in many cases, the Elite Members of the Washington Establishment who do not wish to be exposed.

I have read countless stories over the years of local newspapers printing not only a prostitute's name and age, but also the names and city of residence of any johns that were arrested with the prostitute and themselves being prosecuted for soliciting a prostitute. Police women often go undercover for that specific purpose: strolling the streets until a john solicits sex for money and then arresting him and subjecting him to prosecution and public condemnation for that act.

So I say let's expose every one of the hookers employed by Madam Palfrey and certainly the list of johns should be released. Why should citizens patronizing prostitutes in Washington receive special care to conceal their identities when so such privilege is extended to johns and prostitutes anywhere else in America. Why are criminals being protected so? Just whom is on that list that the government feels compelled to protect?

Wouldn't you enjoy seeing every Elite Member of the Washington Establishment exposed? It might even stop a lot of the sanctimonious stench of phony righteousness that emanates from that city.

Labels: Censorship, Courts, Crime