Senior Bush Official Linked to Escort Service Resigns
Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation.
Tobias, 65, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the ambassador for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.
A State Department press release late Friday afternoon said only he was leaving for “personal reasons.”
On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been “no sex,” and that recently he had been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.
Tobias’ private cell number was among thousands of numbers listed in the telephone records provided to ABC News by Jeane Palfrey, the woman dubbed the “D.C. Madam,” who is facing the federal charges. In an interview to be broadcast on “20/20″ next Friday, Palfrey says she intends to call Tobias and a number of her other prominent D.C. clients to testify at her trial.
“I’m sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, four to eight years, because I’m shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever,” Palfrey told ABC News.
Palfrey maintains she ran a sexual fantasy business that was legal and that if any of the women who were working for her had sex, they did so in violation of her rules and without her knowledge. She says there are a number of other prominent Washington, D.C. men who will be on her witness list. “I’ll bring every last one of them in if necessary,” Palfrey said.
As the Bush administration’s so-called “AIDS czar,” Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
In a 2004 interview, Tobias explained his approach as “A and B and C. . . Abstinence works. ‘Be faithful’ works. Condoms work. They all have a role. But it’s not a multiple choice, where there is only one answer.”
As a top official overseeing global AIDS funding to other countries, Tobias was responsible for enforcing a U.S. policy, enacted during the Bush administration, that requires recipients to swear they oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. USAID adopted a similar policy in 2004.
At an April 18 speech, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Tobias’ work. “Randy Tobias has indeed had many roles in his life, but none more important than the roles he’s played in government, where he has been someone who has been most involved in organizing America’s compassion to the world.”
A biography of Tobias was removed from the USAID Web site, but an archived version shows that before joining the State Department, Tobias had been CEO of drug manufacturer Eli Lilly Co. and AT&T Communications, and served on the board of trustees for Duke University, including three years as its chair.
In 2003, he co-wrote a book on leadership lessons with his son, Todd, entitled, “Put the Moose on the Table.” Indiana University, whose publishing arm produced the volume, is also home to the Randall L. Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence.
Along with his wife, Marianne, Tobias donated over $100,000 to Republican candidates and political committees, according to the campaign finance Web site OpenSecrets.org.
Tobias is the second prominent man to be identified as a customer of the Palfrey’s “sexual fantasy service.” Two weeks ago, Palfrey alleged that military strategist Harlan K. Ullman, creator of the “shock and awe” combat theory and now a scholar with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was also a customer. Ullman has said that the claim was “beneath the dignity of comment.”
Palfrey is expected to appear in court on Monday, to request permission to replace her criminal defense attorney, currently a federal public defender.
Copyright © 2007 ABCNews Iternet Ventures
…Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.”
Hmmmm. When I want a massage, a call a massage spa. In my neighborhood, they won’t list escort services under the heading of massage therapy.
Are these women from Pamela Martin and Associates certified Massage Therapists from schools that have been approved by the board of higher education?
Stand by for another therapy customer bound for salvation,weeping tears of devotion to wife and family.
Sometimes the best laughs I get are in the news. I love these Republican excuses. They are priceless. And if I should ever garner enough power the think the rules don’t apply to me, I’ll be sure to remember them.
“Aids Czar”, “Drug War Czar”, soon “War Czar”. The term ‘Csar’ is becoming curiously current and popular in Washington.
The term ‘Czar’ - spelled ‘Tsar’ (in Russia pre-1917, naming the sovereign emperor), ‘Kaiser’ (Germany, until loss of WWI) or any similar derivation - is named after the Roman dictator-emperor Julius Caesar to mean dictatorial ‘Emperor’ in general.
The tradition of emperial ruling, with ‘czars’, is being bandied about, familiarizing the public with it - possibly until a ‘Czar’ in charge of government won’t be much of a change. One can only wonder if soon we’ll formally have a “Czar President of America”.
Ole Ullern
Czarina Hillary… has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? You think she’ll be caught having fun in closets with young boys too? Or is this just a Republican pastime?
Ullern April 28th, 2007 9:33 pm
“One can only wonder if soon we’ll formally have a “Czar President of America”.”
We already have one under the auspices of the PATRIOT ACT, the MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT and the UNITARY EXECUTIVE. All three were creatively designed to give the president the power to interpret the laws of this land. Their constitutionality is of course highly debatable.
Palfrey maintains she ran a sexual fantasy business that was legal and that if any of the women who were working for her had sex, they did so in violation of her rules and without her knowledge. She says there are a number of other prominent Washington, D.C. men who will be on her witness list. “I’ll bring every last one of them in if necessary,” Palfrey said…
Tobias is the second prominent man to be identified as a customer of the Palfrey’s “sexual fantasy service.” Two weeks ago, Palfrey alleged that military strategist Harlan K. Ullman, creator of the “shock and awe” combat theory and now a scholar with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was also a customer. Ullman has said that the claim was “beneath the dignity of comment.”
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Without that list and Ross’ story, I believe that Madam Palfrey would be dead by now. Ask Monica Lewinsky.
Republicans mostly consist of conservatives supported by the religious right. They claim to want to reinstate the moral conduct of our society. With this recent scandal and the likes of Mark Foley you have to begin to wonder what is really going on in D.C. behind closed doors. This recent event begs the question concerning the amount of tax dollars spent on escorts and massages either directly or indirectly.
Those in power do not get caught because they control the enforcement arm of the law. Someone wants this scandal to take place either as a diversion or to coerce some people on Palfrey’s list.
Oh! Ah! Harder! Beat Me! Right there! Good moral fun! Kinda like when Cheney blushes with Scooter! Whats the Foley?
So… Are we a republic, a democracy, a dictatorship or what now anyway? I have been having a hard time figuring these things out with the new laws.
Or the interpretations of them, I should mention, with the signing statements and stuff like the phone taps, deleted records, “private contractors” (whew sexy)….ect.
Everyone repeat after me: One does NOT call a $300 an hour escort service for a massage.
Professional massuses are available, even in Washington, for about a third of that cost.
I can’t wait to see who else gets nabbed in this scandal.
Tobias probably paid the $300 service fee out of his own pocket.
Wolfewitz’s monster monthly charge for his full time private service was paid for by us tax payers. He keeps the support of his boss and so keeps his job.
BUWHAAAHAAAHAAA!!!
Wonder when the Secret Service records of who comes (eh hem) and goes out of the White House, and how many hours they spend, and how many nights they spend, (Google Gannon/Guckert) is going to become common knowledge.
HANG CHENEY FIRST!!
Then go after all the perverts.
Have I told you yet how much I hate these people? (thank you, Mike Malloy!)