A few weeks ago, I shared a widely circulated DC rumor: Dick Cheney was a client of the DC Madam.
Dick "John" Cheney on her List Too?
This rumor has taken two forms in DC: One form denotes Dick as a Sex-Work client himself.
The second form denotes him as a Buyer of Sex-Work as gifts for visiting business men. And my source was a GOP attorney who does damage control spin for such subjects. He believed Cheney would need spin.
So, in light of the stunning idiocy the nation faced when the GOP Noise Machine spent north of a Million dollars in private investigations and $13,000,000.00+ in Ken Starr staff time to finally uncover President Clinton had a Blow Job, I thought perhaps investing a little of my time would be worthwhile.
Story below:
Some background on the DC Madam, her business sense, and her intended Clients:
The DC Madam apparently was in escort business from late 1988 to 2006. The timeline of phone records and banking records for Pamela Martin and Associates (Her Fantasy Escort Business) run from 1992 to 2006.
Please note it seems she was first attracted to Sex-Work as an extension of her legal career, and is referenced in a number of articles as being dismayed at the poor management and drug use pervasive in the escort business and the need for "clean" and "professional" services with defined hourly billing. She compares it to other professional services and used business structures and payment systems identical to a small law firm. This was apparently the model of operation for her business.
An interesting note after her 1990 arrest for prostitution she fled to Montana and attempted to resume her previous career as a paralegal. But soon agreed to return to DC and face charges. She was convicted, served 18 months, and when released had already outlined the business plan to form Pamela Martin and Associates to provide "legal sexual fantasy services."
Pamela's had graduated Rolens College with a degree in Criminal Justice, studied Law and also previously stated worked as a paralegal. Anyone who knows the paralegal and entry level associate work-environment for young, attractive females would understand she had entered a business space only a shade removed from escort services even before she made it her full time operation. It appears she began her "escort" career as an extension to her work as a paralegal.
THE DC MADAM'S RECRUITMENT PLAN
The Madam recruited women, both beautiful and exotic, who also had intelligence, charm and a willingness to follow strict codes of health, safety and business sense. She advertised for talent at papers and job fairs at University of Maryland and clearly made job pitches identical to any other professional service business, although her staff could be expected to make more than $200/hour as a starting wage.
The Madam always had a manager and trainer who detailed the legal limits, protections and practices of the in-call fantasy sex fulfillment business with the intent of keeping the service within the letter of the law.
As an hourly business a lot of the madam's training was in methods to encourage extended engagement of 4-6 hour calls. The goal was to provide high end fantasy sex services for high end sexual fantasy holders.
DICK CHENEY'S FREE MARKET FANTASY
After spending nearly his entire career working up the ranks of the GOP ruling class the loss of President Bush (41) was Cheney's first real step into the free market. Serving as 41s Sec. of Defense for his entire term including Gulf War 1991 Cheney had also organized a rethinking of military procurement. Cheney had driven the Pentagon to focus on outsourcing all military functions not directly part of functional war-fighting. Logistics process, Trucking and Food Supply, were recently outsourced and the process needed to "win" these contracts only taking shape.
Cheney became both an AEI scholar, and the CEO of Halliburton. As an AEI Scholar he focussed on commentary and opinion building pusshing outsourcing of non-essential government and military services. As the CEO of Halliburton he was a generally seen as a business disaster, but was considered highly effective in winning govt sole source contracts and winning over middle eastern royal families.
An example of how poorly he served as a CEO, in 1998, on a Quail Hunting Trip, Cheney agreed to buy drilling services rival Dresser Industries for $7.7B. This figure despite Dresser'd plague of asbestos concerns The merger eventually lowered Haliburton stock value over 80% in one year. The company did not recover to pre-merger value until after Dick Cheney, now Vice President, expanded the sole source logistics contract to the operations of the Gulf War 2003-7.
Perhaps more interesting still, during the merger Dresser executives and legal teams complained bitterly about lack of transparency in Haliburton's accounting. One of the concerns was "unusual expenditures" made by senior executives.
(For those here who enjoy shaping up your tinfoil now and then, here is a foily wrinkle on the side: Cheney agreed to pay $7.7B for Dresser industries, despite conservative estimates of the value at less than $1B. Public statements at the time indicate he did not believe the asbestos liability would be as severe as pessimistic (and accurate) estimates would have it. Haliburton Shareholders got hosed, but Dresser shareholders including Prescott Bush (Banker who took Dresser Public and served on the board for 22 years) and GHW Bush (Former Exec of Dresser) and many other Bush Family members made 7x windfalls via Cheney's "shotgun" decision while Quail hunting.)
WHAT WHERE THE UNUSUAL EXPENDITURES?
A former Clinton Era DoD political appointee I spoke with told me: Haliburton got people laid. While every one of the big defense contractors would buy the cigars, drinks and big meals, he said it was always very clear when Haliburton was after a contract they would take care of whatever entertainment the buyer needed.
WHY MOVE ALL RECORDS AND YOUR HQ TO DUBAI?
Among other things, this sales method is both legal and normal. I called a friend who works on Military Logistics and has directly interfaced with Haliburton today. I asked him if the next time he was in Dubai, if he wanted would Haliburton "set him up with an escort?" He said: "Sure. They use Russian Ballet Dancers. Very Talented." So I asked if Haliburton had always provided Talented Ballet Dancers? He laughed and said: "Of course. Haliburton is a company based on the movie Giant. It's all about oil, booze, texas boots and whoring around." Without naming names my friend recounted tales of Haliburton arranging sex for important clients which he knew dated back at least to 2002. Of course the Haliburton of 2007 in Dubai may have had a culture similar to Haliburton of the US in 2002, but it could be vastly different from the company Cheney left in 2000.
OR DID DICK JOHN AT HOME, OR DID HE USE HIS HOME AS A 'LOUNGE'?
In a seperate call I spoke to a friend who catered a number of receptions at Dick's home during the 90s. He claimed he catered several parties at the Cheney Residence at 1126 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, Virginia (this also matches property tax records via: Tax Records FairFax. He said they were pretty normal affairs, and while he remembers sometimes there were often much younger women escorting older men it was not overly unusual. He did recall one time his supervisor point out two rather beautiful women arriving just as catering was shutting down. The supervisor had said to him: "There is somebody's dessert."
So, my probing had so far done a little to further the story. More smoke. No fire, yet.
ONE NO-NAME CLAIM AT THE COFFEE SHOP? NOPE. ITS A PATTERN.
While probing into the corridors of Cheney's Sex-For-Contracts bribery habits at Haliburton a fellow Kossack provided me documentary evidence. It turns out the DC Madam's lawyer has also been contacting people seeking information about Cheney's time living in McLean, Virginia; his phone numbers there; and his residences and regular haunts. One of our fellow Kossacks in fact had been sent such a letter. Interestingly, it referenced the same address as my catering friend.
So I reached out to Montgomery Blair Sibley, who represents the DC Madam, with the catering information about the girls arriving as/for dessert and interestingly Montgomery's offices confirmed they have been sending formal letters to "a number of individuals in the DC area in the month of June seeking additional information about Dick Cheney's ownership of property, phone numbers and makes of automobile in the years 1993 to 2000."
Interesting. Automobiles. Does this mean Dick was trying to keep up with Newt?
ONE OFF HANDED REMARK TO ADD TO THE MIX:
In asking repeatedly, many people who might know, I generally got the same feedback. The one remark that stood out came from a person I know only from work. This friend said she had a friend who had been an escort for a while in DC in the 90s. This friend had said, when the campaign was going on in 2000 that every time she saw Dick Cheney all she could think about was her collegue who had been asked to spank him on an outcall. Unfortunately my work friend has lost touch with this former escort.
BACK TO THE SOURCE OF THE RUMOR.
So to try and get some closure I decided to call my friend who I had first been told a spin campaign to defend Cheney from the DC madam was in the works. I reached him Sunday. He was not happy to have the conversation. I told him about he letters going out from Montgomery Blair Sibley seeking information. He already knew about some of them. He knew about the Chain Bridge address. He said that is not a real worry. He didn't know about the Automobiles. He asked if a knew how many letters were out. I told him I did not, but that I was told it was a "a number". He didn't say much more, but he did exhale and say, "Man, for everyone's sake, I hope his pacemaker surgery makes him consider retiring. I don't know how this gets handled if it's as bad as it might be."
That's all the follow up I have for now. It was all volunteer. Perhaps Ken Starr is a lurker here at dKos and would like to bring his considerable skills at hunting down moral failings to the team.