May 17, 2007 -- Conflicts of interest in DC Madam case. On Tuesday, May 15, this editor submitted a question to be asked of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The question, which, like others, are screened in advance, was never asked. Part of the reason is that as far as most of Washington's corporate-bought Fourth Estate is concerned, the DC Madam story was put to rest by ABC's 20/20 and nothing further needs to be reported on the story. The question that was to be posed to Gonzales was: "Do you believe a Special Counsel is necessary in the DC Madam case since a number of Justice Department officials and other federal law enforcement officers, including those involved in prosecuting the case against the "DC Madam," are also clients of her sexual fantasy entertainment firm, Pamela Martin & Associates?"
WMR has learned that on the phone list suppressed from further release by US Judge Gladys Kessler are the names of scores of Justice Department prosecutors, Drug Enforcement Administration and Secret Service agents, Internal Revenue Service officers, and US Postal Inspection Service officials, including one involved in ordering the seizure of Deborah Jeane Palfrey's assets. These names are in addition to a number of mostly Republican politicians, staffers, and political appointees, including Vice President Dick Cheney while he was President and CEO of Halliburton in the 1990s.
And why is the Fourth Estate so nervous about pursuing the DC Madam story? It also turns out that among the clients of Pamela Martin & Associates are a number of journalists for top Washington news media organizations, including -- ABC News, which spiked the story and said there is no one "newsworthy" on the phone lists it obtained.
WMR also wants to thank the Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller shows for helping to keep this story alive. Hear the editor at http://www.randirhodesarchives.com/ . Click on hour 3, Friday, May 11, 2007. Thanks also to go Mike Malloy for his encouraging words about WMR.