FILTHY FLORIDA POLITICS: THE LOU PEARLMAN-RIC KELLER CONNECTION

Rep. Ric Keller eats less than contributor Lou Pearlman

When I worked at Warner Bros. Records we weren't exactly Boy Band Headquarters. There was one randy gay A&R guy who used to try to do what, traditionally-- and repulsively-- many straight A&R men have always done: used their immense power of the promise to make life's ultimate dream come true in return for sex. The straight guys did it with young women. The gay guy did it with young men. It pissed me off. I did all I could to thwart him but sometimes he got away with his foul deeds. And I eventually would wind up as friends of some of his victims-- some of whom became waiters and some of whom became superstars. I just got off the phone with one of the former superstars.

I had just read Pach's stories about crooked Boy Band entrepreneur/molester Lou Pearlman at Huff Po and I called... "Mr. X" for a quick consultation. He was a boy band with a couple of ten 10 songs and he was friends with all the other boy bands. Let me quote him when I asked about Pearlman: "I knew there was shit going on before he was caught. He is disgusting. I had friends who worked at Jive who told me that is how Backstreet [Boys] got out of their arrangement with him; they were going to expose it all." He then went on to recount some very explicit details I'll leave out.

Pearlman has been authoritatively alleged to be ripping off his young proteges for many many years-- and he's also been alleged to have been ripping off their trousers. He's in jail now and last week's Rolling Stone recounted how one boy from every band had to take it for the team and give in to his perverted lust.

The good news is that Pearlman wasn't your typical toilet trawling Republican like Bob Allen or Larry Craig. But he sure was writing checks to Republican politicians. According to the Orlando Sentinel the Florida Attorney General (a Democrat) opened an investigation into what turned out to be $300 million in grand larceny by Pearlman. Pearlman donated thousands of dollars to his Republican opponent who won the election and promptly dropped the case against his campaign contributor. The Republican Attorney General, by the way, is another Republican closet case. He's also now the Governor of Florida!

But the politician who Pearlman was most attracted to is one of Florida's most crooked, the Abramoff and Delay-tainted Ric Keller. Between 2000, when he first ran for Congress, and 2006, when Pearlman skipped town and fled to Bali, he wrote Keller at least six thousand dollar checks. Keller, who is facing another tough re-election effort, as well as a major primary challenge by an even more extreme wing nut than himself, refuses to return the money.

Keller, who is divorced, represents the 8th CD (Disneyworld and Orange County). The district went for Bush in 2000 and 2004 but has been trending blue and Keller only managed an anemic 53% last year against a very weak anti-choice Democrat, Charlie Stuart. The DCCC sees FL-08 as a prime target this year and Keller as one of the most vulnerable of Republican incumbents. So far there are 5 Democrats looking to take Keller on, Charlie Stuart again plus environmental activist and progressive Corbett Kroehler, attorneys Alan Grayson and Mike Smith (who smells very DCCC), and a law student named Quoc Van. Keller has two primary challengers, Bob Hering and whacko right wing radio host Todd Long. This should be a fun district to watch.