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Monday, October 05, 2009

CREW. A watchdog barks.


Click a thumbnail to enlarge and read each of the two complaint pages which CREW filed with the Louisiana bar regarding admitted criminal conduct of Sen. Vitter reflecting on his character and fitness to practice law. Or download and read the Adobe pdf version, here. Exhibits are online, here.

It gets better. A real hoot. This link.

Now might be a good time for U.S. Sen. David Vitter to rethink the whole zero tolerance thing.

I know, I know, righteous indignation is his calling card. Always has been, ever since he made a name for himself in the Legislature by pointing his moralistic outrage at the all-too-deserving governor, Edwin Edwards.

But you've got to admit, ever since Vitter was forced to own up to his involvement with a Washington escort service two years ago, zero tolerance just isn't working for him.

Consider how Vitter's recent offensive against another supposedly easy target, the scandal-plagued community activist group ACORN, blew up in his face.

ACORN has long been a favorite target of the GOP's right wing, particularly since some of the group's workers got caught in 2008 submitting fake registrations for nonexistent voters. It's exactly the kind of crusade Vitter likes to lead, and that's just what he sought to do. Last spring, for example he tried and failed to prohibit federal funding to the group through the National Service Act.

Then the storyline suddenly veered in an unexpected direction that, for Vitter, was much too close to home.

The good news for the GOP: a couple of independent activists posing as a hooker and pimp caught ACORN workers in several states offering advice on how to conceal a prostitution ring. The bad news for Vitter needs no explanation.

Suddenly, cracking down on ACORN had gone mainstream. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 83 to 7 to block the group from receiving any financing from the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Vitter skipped the vote, but didn't stay quiet for long. Soon he was back, demanding, among other things, a racketeering investigation into the group's activities.

You've got to wonder, for a smart guy, shouldn't he have foreseen where this would all go?

This week, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington decided to turn the spotlight right back on ACORN's self-appointed accuser when it announced it had filed a bar complaint against Vitter, an attorney by trade.

"Vitter Seeks Investigation of ACORN for Assisting Fake Prostitution Ring," the gleeful press release read. "CREW Seeks Investigation of Vitter for Role in Real Prostitution Ring."


What goes around comes around. If you live here, should you throw stones: