By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
July 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Louisiana Sen. David Vitter returned to the Capitol
Tuesday, apologizing privately to GOP colleagues but refusing
to take public questions about the sex scandal that sent him
into seclusion for a week.
The first-term Republican said he wanted to resume his normal
Senate schedule, but that proved difficult as news crews camped
outside his office and chased him down hallways.
In a private weekly luncheon for Republican senators in the
Capitol, Vitter briefly spoke and received a round of applause
audible outside the room. Vitter told his colleagues he was
sorry for the trouble he had caused them, and thanked them
for their messages of support, said a senator who heard the
speech and described it on background because of the private
nature of the luncheons.
Last week Vitter, 46, acknowledged "a serious sin" after
his Washington telephone number was found among those called
several years ago by an escort service that prosecutors say
was a prostitution ring.
Vitter and his wife Wendy told reporters Monday in Metairie,
La., that their marriage is strong and the senator plans to
continue his political career. Vitter said other allegations
made against him are untrue, apparently referring to a New
Orleans woman's claim that he had frequented her brothel in
the 1990s.
The couple took no questions, and Vitter flew back to Washington
after a week's absence.
On Tuesday morning he did not appear at his office in the
Hart Senate Office Building, where a gaggle of cameras and
journalists waited. But he did attend a Commerce subcommittee
hearing on "air services to small and rural communities" in
the nearby Russell building.
When Vitter left, while the hearing continued, reporters chased
him down a hallway until he turned and calmly addressed them.
He said he and his wife already had made "very straightforward
statements about all of this. And I look forward today to being
back at work, really focused on a lot of important issues for
the people of Louisiana, like what we were discussing in the
committee hearing."
He then continued down the hallway, ignoring questions. After
exiting the building, he stepped into a waiting white Isuzu
Rodeo and was driven away.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Vitter got a warm response from
GOP colleagues when he addressed them during the party's weekly
luncheon.
"It was a good thing for him to do," Thune said. "There
was a lot of support."
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, said she would
continue working with Vitter on the state's post-hurricane
Katrina and Rita needs, and she said she hoped the scandal
surrounding the senator didn't damage Louisiana's attempts
to get more federal money for recovery efforts.
"I hope it doesn't impact us. Our people deserve the
help, as I have said to everyone in Washington," Blanco
said in a conference call with reporters from London, where
she was on an economic development trip. But she hinted she
was worried, adding: "I am not certain what the reaction
is going to be in Washington."
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