A Note On Janette Maier

As another Madam, Janette Maier aka The Canal Street Madam is coming forward to claim Senator Vitter used her business services, although her attorney states he had never heard this before during years of representation, a little perspective can't hurt.

According to this item dealing with a previous 48 Hours appearance:

As the madam of the Canal Street Brothel, in New Orleans, Jeanette Maier was a businesswoman whose business was women. Unfortunately, this also included her daughter, Monica. By age 15, Monica had started stripping with her mother, and by 23, she was turning tricks and paying mom and grandma's steep 50 percent commission.
Defending the prostitute lifestyle, Jeanette compared time spent at the brothel to college life. "It was like family. It was like a sorority of girls," she told 48 Hours.

There appears to be a music CD from 2004:

The Canal Street Brothel Burning Rubbers With The Madam by Jeanette Maier

An appearance at San Fran's 4th annual sex worker Film and Arts festival. And the FBI was apparently recording her work conversation. Now she claims Vitter simply stopped coming prior to that time. And she says she was never going to disclose his name in an up coming book because she respects him - yet seems somehow to have gotten around that concern just as soon as the news broke.

NEW ORLEANS -- The calls from wealthy men to the white-columned Victorian house were about women: who was available, what they looked like and what they would do for top dollar. The callers were bankers, stockbrokers, a telecommunications mogul, a member of one of the city's leading restaurant families, a former head of the prestigious Mardi Gras society Rex, an ex-pro football star, a partner in a prominent local law firm -- and they all wanted discretion.

But FBI agents were listening. Hour after hour, month after month, 10 agents recorded the men's demands, the brothel keepers' deals and the prostitutes' complaints. The agents were listening on Sept. 11, in the days before and in the days after. With 90 calls a day to monitor, the listening post was busy.

In the current NOLA.com story she states:

"I'm not out to ruin a marriage, I'm out to save a man," Maier said. "I want his wife to know he's a good man, I want his children to know he's a good father. If he had sex out of wedlock, so what? At least he stayed with his children."

It would also seem that Vitter, understandably, is not seeking publicity right now, nor, I trust, has he had any of his children turning tricks and paying him a percentage. Funny way this gal has of showing her respect for people, if you ask me. But I suppose it might help her book.

Comments

[Calder]

Vitter, understandably, can stop this news cycle by naming all the wonderful whores he frequented, so that the lowly prostitutes can shut up once and for all. After all, God spoke to him and forgave him and he has the important business of protecting family values of the people of Louisiana.

[bmili]

could it be that those closest to the sin know just how deep its reaches could be and shout the warnings? when hypocrisy becomes the end all and be all, everything else becomes passable.

[Paul A'Barge]

"Vitter, understandably, can stop this news cycle by naming"

Or, the whore is lying, taking advantage of Vitter's name already in the media, and pimping her book, and given the predilections of the media and purveyors such as Calder, there is no way to stop any news cycle.

"...stop this news cycle..."

Right. What are you, like 2 years old?

[Poetiv]

"Or, the whore is lying, ..."

Press Release from Vitter : "That whore Janette Maier is a liar; I never frequented Wendy. My favorites girls there were Francis, Ursula, Candace, Kathryn. A couple of times with Crystal. And that other girl whose name I forget - she had huge knockers. But, I was never with Wendy. Ever. I swear."

[bmili]

the very fact that one is married and has an affair makes you a hypocrite (people guilty on both sides of the aisle) because you swore an OATH. so if someone is a hypocrite, does it automatically make their message false? No, it does not. Does it hurt their credibility? without a doubt yes. A person's character is determined by how they address the issue, which Vitter has done years ago. Last time I checked, Barney Frank (in a much more scandalous situation) was flaunting it and applauded for it. At least with Foley, he resigned. The double standards abound.

[kgb999]

It is not a double standard to judge a person based on the standards that they personally espoused. Vitter is judged harshly because he harshly judged others in the same position. If someone demands that other politicians resign for simple infidelity, it seems resonable to expect that person to resign when they are shown to have committed infidelity with aggrivating circumstance (he PAID for hookers!).

If a person has argued for mercy or that a politician's personal life should not destroy their political career on behalf of collegues in compromisiong situations, it seems that there is at least some consistancy if they then ask for the same sort of accomodation. This is not the case with Vitter.

To demand that others resign, and then ask that your own transgressions be ignored - that is an unsustainable position.

IMHO: Nobody in public life gets a free pass when they are found cheating on their spouses. Some of them ride it out, some of them don't, but the opposition always ensures that they are publicly called to the mat. Vitter's "sins" may prove too extensive for him to ride out (the "Incredible Vanishing Vitter" is not helping him get ahead of the news cycle AT ALL - which reduces his prospects).