A conservative senator from America's Bible Belt has apologized after being exposed as a former customer of an upscale prostitution agency whose massive client list is said to include many Washington power brokers.
David Vitter, a Republican lawmaker from Louisiana, issued a statement late Monday acknowledging "a very serious sin in my past," after his telephone number appeared on a phone list of clients connected to the escort service run by Washington's "DC Madam."
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said in the statement published in the state's leading newspaper, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, along with other local and national media.
The married father of four continued: "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling."
The first-term senator, whose congressional career has centered largely on issues of marriage, family and morality, added: "Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there -- with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."
The 46-year-old senator is the latest public official snared in the sex scandal, with many more possible. A federal judge last week lifted a restraining order which now allows alleged "madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey to distribute thousands of pages of phone records that could identify as many as 15,000 people who had dealings with her company.
