The reaction from Senator Vitter was furious.When Scott Jordan of Ind.com asked about comparisons to Spitzer, Vitter replied, “I made a very serious mistake a long time ago, and I have to live with that every day.That’s not a flippant statement. I need to spend my whole life making up for that.”
Then, Jordan recounted that Vitter’s tone turned a bit defiant. “Anybody who looks at the two cases will see that there is an enormous difference between the two of them,” he said. “The people that are trying to draw comparisons to the two cases are people who’ve never agreed with me on important issues like immigration and other things.”
When I first broke the story in The Louisiana Weekly almost seven years ago that State Representative Vitter had an eleven month affair with a known prostitute named Wendy Cortez, I was aware of the political Rubicon that I had crossed.
David Vitter was nearing the apex of his popularity.Recently elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was the young conservative reformer who had brought term limits to Baton Rouge.Predictions of even higher office were commonplace.Some of them had come from me.
To take on such a popular figure, one whom I agreed with on so many issues and was a leader of my own party, could be construed as a form of political suicide.
So, why did I write the original tale, a former Republican staffer-turned-columnist and radio talk show host attacking the standard-bearer of the LA GOP?Two reasons.First, from the initial interviews and subsequent conversations with Wendy Yow Ellis, I realized that this was not a single mistake late one night, but a pattern of lawbreaking by a lawmaker.
Second, there was little contrition from David Vitter.“It’s a F--king Lie,” he screamed at me on the telephone when I confronted the then-Congressman.I recounted to Vitter the times and dates that Wendy Cortez had provided, the location of the apartment on Dumaine and Dauphine Streets, the personal information that sounded far too sophisticated to have been invented.And, I said, “David, if you made a mistake, just tell me.”
I have often asked myself what I would have done with the story if Vitter had admitted the tale.I like to think that my journalistic ethics would have required me to report it, and I might have still.Yet, Contrition is a powerful response, and I had no real desire to destroy a man’s family and life.
I remember my radio partner and dear friend Sidney Arroyo reminding me of the larger responsibility of my role as a journalist.The personal and political considerations of even a policy ally had to be put aside for the public good.
In the end, Vitter vehemently called the story a lie, and I knew that there was too much truth in the details and the fact that Wendy Yow wanted no financial remuneration—even when offered—to dismiss the story.
The funny thing is, prior to Wendy Cortez, people accused Jeff Crouere and I of having helped make David Vitter a Congressman, of being too friendly to him.He took advantage of the open mike nature of our radio show on 690 AM to respond to every Treen campaign tactic, even on the Friday morning prior to the runoff, responding, on our show, to the famous “I won’t shake your hand, Mr. Vitter” comment that the former Gov. had made to Bob Christopher and WWL the afternoon before.
Vitter thought highly enough of my partner and me that he offered his office as a base of operations for our live coverage of George W. Bush’s inaugural in January 2001.Vitter appeared on the air with us daily, and complemented our coverage then, as had many times previous, calling himself a regular listener--and reader of our political columns.A fan, if you will forgive the term.
It is interesting that the Senator now says that calls for his resignation came first from the two men that he once admired so openly.For the record, Crouere and I both disagreed with the amnesty portions of the McCain/Kennedy Immigration Bill.We both essentially supported Senator Vitter’s position.We are both life long conservative Republicans, both former GOP candidates for the Louisiana legislature.Jeff served with distinction as the State GOP’s Executive Director and Deputy Chairman.I was a senior staffer for Woody Jenkins and Suzie Terrell in their bids for the U.S. Senate.We have both worked on countless Republican campaigns.
My motivation, and I believe Jeff’s as well, is a worry about the political damage that David Vitter is now doing to the Louisiana Republican Party.My stand was captured well in an editorial in the latest edition of Gambit Weekly.
“Until recently, Vitter at least had a political rationale for not resigning. When he was first ensnared in the D.C. Madam criminal case last June, Republicans were one vote shy of controlling the U.S. Senate. Had he quit then, Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, might have named a Democrat as his interim replacement. Now, however, Louisiana has a Republican governor in Bobby Jindal, who can name a Republican to replace Vitter. Thus, there no longer is any rational basis for the GOP to protect Vitter. Indeed, Republicans in and out of New York did not hesitate to demand that Democrat Spitzer resign as that state's governor last week. Like Vitter, Spitzer had been a crusading moralist. Unlike Vitter, Spitzer recognized and admitted his sins, including that of rank hypocrisy. He resigned within days.”
“David Vitter should do likewise.”
“We do not take this position lightly, and we are far from alone. Even among conservatives and within the Republican Party, there are voices calling for Vitter's resignation. Christopher Tidmore, a conservative Republican columnist who first broke the story of Vitter's trysts with the local prostitute known as Wendy Cortez, has noted that Vitter's continued presence in the Senate casts ‘a terrible image across the nation as this state sought recovery dollars, and put the local GOP in a dangerous political position in having to come to Vitter's defense.’ And last week, Sam Hanna Jr., publisher of three newspapers in north Louisiana, called on Vitter to step down. ‘There is a limit to the hypocrisy that the American people can stomach,’ Hanna wrote in the Ouachita Citizen.We couldn't agree more.”
My worries about the political fortunes of the Republican Party and the post-Katrina recovery as a whole has been a prime driver in calling for Vitter’s resignation, not partisan politics.It is a point that I have tried to make to strangers, and to the myriad of friends and political allies that have written me in the last few days.
The letters are too numerous to recount.Some comments from strangers are at Bayoubuzz.com.I wanted to share a few letters from my friends and acquaintances, who disagreed with my call for Vitter’s resignation.
A gentleman from Harahan, well known to me wrote, “President Clinton set the bar. Mr. Vitter is not being accused of money laundering like your Democrat New York governor. While I wish he would not have had these trysts with prostitutes, Mr. Vitter has been a very good Senator for Louisiana.For what it is worth, I advised Mr. Vitter to hang in there, and do something good for the people such as helping to stop illegal immigration.Our country is being taken over from within.Surely, you have better things to do than to ask Mr. Vitter to resign.”
“I doubt if your request is ‘for the good of Louisiana’. Could it be that you believe he could be replaced by a Democrat?Shame on you.”
I replied, “I appreciate you taking the time to give me a thoughtful reply.If you know anything about my writing, you know I'm a very loyal Republican, who worries constantly about the fortunes of not only our party, but issues like immigration and its potential for harm.”
“Considering if Vitter resigned, he would be replaced by Jindal's selection of Jay Dardenne, as I point out in the piece, I am not especially worried about the seat going Democratic under those circumstances.I am very worried about Charlie Melancon beating David Vitter in an off year election in 2010, which was one of my two major points.”
“Secondly, you used the example of President Clinton.Republicans like you and I called for his impeachment because he BROKE THE LAW.People said that perjury was just lying about sex, but you and I both know that it was the betrayal of a fundamental legal trust.”
“David Vitter broke the law, and if you read my original stories, while he did not use multiple bank accounts like Spitzer, he did seek using cash transactions to conceal his identity in a similar fashion.”
“So, my second question is, if it was correct for Spitzer to resign, then why not Vitter.Especially considering thanks to Bobby Jindal, his replacement would be a conservative Republican.I worry of the damage that this is doing to our state's reputation and the electoral chances of the GOP this fall against Mary Landrieu…I hope we can chat, you'll see that my motives were quite drawn from ethical considerations and my own conservatism.”
A dear friend and past political supporter wrote, “Chris, As an elected member of RSCC, I disagree.”
“I do not condone Vitter. His was a private sex act that he has repented from and asked his wife and our forgiveness. The scripture teaches if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.”
“However, NY Gov. was caught on FEDERAL WIRETAP with a ring that had possible Mafia connections. He also paid to travel the lady over state lines and laundered money! He committed a crime called "structuring" to hide from IRS and banks his thousands of dollars spent on her. (We know of at least $80,000).”
“Vitter's approval numbers are high and you fellows ,who have hated him for quite awhile, use every opp. to dump on him.You remember how hurt you were when people accused you of being gay ? [An smear campaign used against me in my race for the legislature last year, mere weeks prior to my marriage to the former Miss Sally Johns.]Leave Vitter and his family alone--you are hurting him and his family for your pure political pleasure and vengeance. Vitter did some grandstanding. Spitzer did more than Vitter. Now you are on your holier than thou soap box. Be careful. Pride goes before a fall.”
I responded to my friend, “I take no pleasure in this.I seek no vengeance, and I certainly have nothing to gain.Reporting on the Vitter story has cost me employment and political support.It is likely that it had much to do with losing my race for the legislature last year when the confirmation about the DC madam restored the Vitter story to the headlines.”
I went on to explain, as I did above, how Vitter hid his activities in much the same fashion as Spitzer, spending almost as much money over the years. Then, I added, “He broke the law.Here and in DC.That makes the situation far more than a private sex act.It is no different than lying under oath.Those that said it was just a falsehood about sex were castigated by we Republicans.The same principles apply.”
“A mutual friend of ours, a pastor that ministers to convicts, often tells his flock, that God forgives but there is a price to breaking his law as well as man’s law.One must pay that price.”
Not all the comments were negative, someone very dear to me, a local board member of the Louisiana Federation of Republican Women wrote, “I agree! - but cheating on your wife is a moral sin - not a constitutional one...but how can one say he is doing the best for Louisiana when poking/thinking of prostitutes and acting on it - wrong doings always corrupt something - if not his job now, his family then his job...it already has - he missed 3 votes on bills while hiding - if that's not your personal life affecting your work life than I don't know what is..”
“Politicians are not the only ones who do this - there are plenty of dr's and lawyers (God and power like professions) etc who get caught and it catches up to them in their work...get help or get out I say..and it's not just cheating - he could be drinking excess fully and it could have done the same thing…unprofessional behavior - we don't need it...the mayor is doing the same damn thing and we want him to resign also and he didn't even cheat on his wife - he had a mental breakdown!!Your life isn't personal and private anymore when you decide to serve the state of Louisiana...talk the walk and walk the talk...” Then, she asked me a question, “Would you have you fight to stay in the game? Would you have resigned had you been guilty of such a thing? Or would you fight?”
The simple answer was, I could not face my constituents had I broken the law.This was no political game, but the essence of integrity itself.
My sixth grade English teacher, the man who taught me how to write, put it best in an email to me about Vitter.He quoted George Bernard Shaw.“A lesson for these days ... ‘Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.’"
I responded to the comments of only one stranger.A blogger on bayoubuzz.com wrote, “And who could run for Vitter's seat, or possibly a seat opened up by the advancement of a current incumbent to Vitter's seat? Hmmm, I wonder,,, could it be,,, maybe.... CHRISTOPHER TIDMORE, the highly ethical new face who spoke up against and demanded Vitter's departure, for the good of the state and the party and all that good stuff???? Sorry, but when wannabe politicians speak (and throw out their email to Republican voters), I get suspicious.”
I have no intention of running for the U.S. Senate.If I worried about my electoral future as a Republican, I would never have written the Wendy Cortez/Vitter story in the first place.
