WHO USES HOOKERS? IT ISN'T ONLY ELIOT SPITZER AND DAVID "DIAPERS" VITTER

Vitter with the other Wendy, not the call girl

It's not just Eliot Spitzer, believe me. According to a new book about the super-rich, The Sky's the Limit by Russ Alan Price, 34% of males who use private jets admit they pay for sex. That would mean about 68% do. (Even 20% of women who use private jets said they paid for sex!) And it isn't just the rich-- although, according to the Wall Street Journal story linked above, the super-rich have screwed up the pricing situation.

At the agency Spitzer was using, the Emperors Club, "escorts charged between $1,000 and $5,000 an hour, depending on their 'rankings.' Clients could also pay between $25,000 and $50,000 for a three-day visit. It may be the world’s oldest profession: but the prices reflect the new realities of wealth."

I was far from rich-- and only 14-- but my first experience with a paid sex worker was on the roof of Atlantic Towers in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay area. I doubt Chuck Shumer or Norm Coleman was one of them but 5 or 6 neighborhood guys all chipped in $5 each and we hired an exotic girl from another neighborhood and of another ethnicity. Years later I arrived in India after the better part of a year in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan-- where one didn't even see a woman. Again, the bunch of guys I was with all kicked in a few rupees, probably considerably less than $5/each and hired a woman. Everyone got a turn in a shower stall and when my turn came I was so grossed out, I passed. I remember not being able to tell if she was 15 or 55 and, although, see seemed perfectly content with her occupation, it felt like exploitation to me. It was nearly 40 years ago and I still recall it vividly and am still glad I never did anything-- although I;m still disconcerted that I didn't get my share of the rupees back.

So, now we know that the super-wealthy-- obsessed, as they are with power and control, and jonesin' for new experiences-- and horny young hippies will pay for sex. What about politicians? Republicans seem to get caught all the time-- David "Diapers" Vitter (R-LA) and Larry Craig (R-ID) being only the most recent examples-- but I'd venture a guess, without feeling that I'm out on a limb, that it's a pretty nonpartisan activity. Although "obsessed with power and control" would probably point in certain directions more than in others.

Today U.S. News & World Report published the most abbreviated list of politicians who have been caught with hookers I've ever seen. Not a mention of any current members of Congress, other than the hapless-- though still serving-- Vitter. Nothing even about Larry Craig, who couldn't always bother trawling for love in public toilets and some times just paid young men.

Recently New York Magazine and the Rocky Mountain News did features on a whole class of prostitutes who work political conventions. They claim the Republican conventions are far more lucrative. One "over 50 year old" sex worker reported that "We get a lot more business. I don't know if they're just frustrated because of the family values agenda." And then there are the constant rumors that at least one Republican congressman, North Carolina's diminutive, far right closet case, Patrick McHenry, is involved with an escort ring even beyond being a customer. But that involves a series of murders and the police closed the cases without investigating. Seems Spitzer was a lot easier target, especially with the help they got from Spitzer nemesis Ken Langone (of Home Depot fame).