—why are federal agents and U.S. Attorneys supressing a list of alleged criminals—prostitutes and those who use and pay them for their illicit services?—an influential position easily leading to Vitter becoming Giuliani's vice-presidential candidate.by Sarah Whalen who is a contributor to Bayoubuzz.com 

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling!"

Most phones don't ring like that anymore, so "ding-a-ling" now has an

anatomical, pejorative meaning. Men have ding-a-lings. And women

envy men their ding-a-lings, Freud said. And U.S. Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter, identified yesterday on the D.C.

Madame's "ding-a-ling" list of purported clients, has a ding-a-ling he "sins" with.

How did this get started?

For unclear reasons, federal agents investigated Deborah Jeane Palfrey, now known as the "D.C. Madame," who allegedly ran a Beltway brothel from her California apartment. Federal agents claim Palfrey advertised her "escort service" in Beltway newspapers and on the internet. Men in our nation's capital dialed Palfrey's number, and from California, she lined up "dates" for them with Washington women.

The men reportedly paid the women, and after deducting their share for the "dates," the Washington women converted the remaining cash into money orders mailed to Palfrey.

This process, federal agents claim, is "money laundering."

Funny, though. Palfrey's escort enterprise doesn't sound like big-time money laundering, like what drug kingpins do. And although it forms what racketeering statutes call "the underlying criminal act," prostitution is not a federal offense in Washington, D.C.

So why did the federal agents and the U.S. Attorney's Office go after the D.C. Madame?

Were they fishing for blue fish but bringing home flounder? Were they fishing for some wild and crazy…democrat ding-a-lings?

When federal agents first arrested the D.C. Madame, they seized many of her personal papers and records, but they curiously did not take her telephone logs. Why not?

Did they realize whose number was on there?

When Palfrey herself sought to remedy the federal agents' oversight by releasing her telephone logs to the court and making them public, the U.S. Attorney's Office swiftly blocked her, seeking to keep the logs secret. The U.S. Attorneys petitioned Judge Gladys Kessler for a temporary restraining order, which she initially granted. Such orders are typically granted for short periods of time (hence the name,

"temporary") until the parties submit briefs and argue why the order should be kept in force or lifted.

After hearing both sides' arguments, Kessler decided Palfrey could release her logs. "The List in question," noted Kessler, "is Defendant's personal property and contains only a log of telephone numbers. It was neither seized by the Government when it searched the Defendant's residence in California, nor listed in the Indictment putting Defendant on notice as to which items of her property were subject to forfeiture. Most importantly," Kessler observed, "the Government has failed to satisfy the requirements contained in the forfeiture statute which would legitimize the extraordinary step of freezing the personal property of an individual, not yet convicted of any crime, and barring her from giving away that property."

Right-o! The press may call Palfrey the "D.C. Madame," but so far, that's the premature verdict of the court of public opinion. Palfrey herself proclaims she only hooks men and women up for adult playtimes, not prostitution. Why can't she just give away her telephone list if she wants to, especially if the government already has its own copy?

Did federal agents dial any of the numbers on it to see what ding-a-lings answered their ding-a-lings before they moved to suppress the logs?

Palfrey articulately contends that the U.S. Attorney's Office unfairly singled her out for investigation and prosecution, and Kessler apparently finds her arguments persuasive. In explaining why she lifted the restraining order, Kessler said: "At oral argument, the Government was asked whether the List contained the telephone numbers of indicted co-conspirators. After a significant silence, Government counsel agreed that the answer to the Court's question was "yes." One cannot help wondering why the Government has exhibited such a strong interest in protecting a list containing the telephone numbers of unindicted co-conspirators, i.e., the women who the Government alleges provided the illegal sexual services and the men who the Government alleges sought and obtained such illegal sexual services."

Indeed

Was the Government protecting Vitter?

America's Congress recently failed to persuade U.S. President George W. Bush's U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Congress contended that Gonzales's office misused its appointment powers to push out Government lawyers suspected of being more loyal to the impartial administration of good justice than to the Bush administration. Is the storm over Palfrey's telephone log just the latest episode in this longer saga?

Vitter claims he's sinned, and his wife and God have forgiven him. He wants to move forward as presidential contender Rudy Giuliani's "southern advisor"

Ding-a-ling-a-ling! Someone get the phone! It's ringing to wake us all up, and just in time.