September 12, 2007
Posted: 04:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Republican Sen. David Vitter, who admitted earlier this year to a "very serious sin" after his telephone number appeared in the telephone records of a Washington, DC escort service, faced new allegations Tuesday he had a relationship with a prostitute from his home state of Louisiana. With Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt at her side, the former prostitute Wendy Ellis told reporters that Vitter employed her services several times a week between July and November of 1999. At the time, Vitter was a new face Capitol Hill, having won a special election only months earlier. "I want the truth to be known," Ellis said. "It was a pure sexual relationship. He would come in and do his business." Vitter, who acknowledged in July to contacting an escort service after Hustler reported his number was linked to the alleged 'DC Madam' Deborah Jeanne Palfrey,' has denied any links to Louisiana prostitutes. "My admission has encouraged long-time political enemies and those hoping to profit from the situation to spread falsehoods, like those New Orleans stories in recent reporting,” Vitter said in July. “Those stories are not true.” On Tuesday, Flynt said Ellis' passed a polygraph test, but he had no other evidence linking the senator to the former prostitute. "We don't even like to mix polygraphs into this stuff, because they're not admissible in court," he said. "But you know she's concerned that she be believed as much as Vitter is believed."
Ellis herself added, "I want the truth to be known, I've been called a liar and a liar I'm not." Earlier in the year, Flynt launched a campaign to publicize lawmakers who he believed are sexual hypocrites by offering up to $1 million for evidence of impropriety. Vitter's office did not respond to a request for comment, but his spokesman did issue a statement to the New Orleans Times-Picayune saying, "Sen. Vitter and his wife have addressed all of this very directly. The senator is focused on important Louisiana priorities like the water resources bill and the Iraq debate." – CNN's Carol Costello contributed to this report Filed under: D.C. Madam David Vitter
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