Manchester, N.H. -- Another key supporter of Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani suffered an embarrassment when he admitted the "serious sin" of at one time calling an escort service accused of being a prostitution ring.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who is Giuliani's most prominent Southern conservative supporter, was implicated when the so-called "D.C. Madam" disclosed that his phone number was found among the telephone records of the escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, in a period before he was elected to the Senate in 2004.
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said in a statement Monday night. "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession ..and marriage counseling."
Vitter's implication in a prostitution ring comes just three days after Giuliani's former state campaign chairman for the crucial primary state of South Carolina was formally arraigned in a federal criminal cocaine-possession indictment.
After a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire yesterday, Giuliani called Vitter's admission a "personal matter" for Vitter. Giuliani also defended his own record of appointing qualified people as mayor of New York, though he conceded some were disappointments.
That two of Giuliani's key Southern supporters have become ensnared in prostitution and drug cases could revive concerns about some of his past New York associates, notably Bernard Kerik. He has pleaded guilty to two state corruption charges for accepting free renovation of his apartment.
This story was supplemented with Associated Press reports.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
