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Metarie - A Republican United States senator who admitted to "serious sin" after he was linked last week to a Washington escort service apologised for the sex scandal yesterday, but said he will go back to work.
David Vitter, a social conservative who has routinely touted family values, said his undescribed sins occurred several years ago, implying that his misdeeds were behind him. He accused enemies of dredging up the scandal to hurt him.
He and his wife Wendy spoke to reporters in a New Orleans hotel then walked out without taking questions.
Vitter, a 46-year-old father of four who has stayed out of sight in the past week, said he was going back to Washington immediately, giving no hint he might resign from the office he won in 2004. "I'm completely responsible and I'm so very, very sorry."
He said: "Wendy and I dealt with this personally several years ago. I confronted it in confession and marriage counselling, I believe I received forgiveness from God, I know I did from Wendy."
His wife said: "Like all marriages, ours is not perfect. I forgave David. I made the decision to love him and recommit to our marriage."
Vitter's phone number was found five times in phone records dating from 1999 to 2001 for "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is accused of running a prostitution ring in Washington.
Vitter issued a statement on July 9 admitting to "a very serious sin in my past", then went into seclusion.
Since then, former New Orleans madam Jeanette Maier has said Vitter was a customer at her bordello in the late 1990s, and another woman identified as Wendy Cortez said Vitter had been her regular client several years ago.
Vitter said: "Those stories are not true."
- REUTERS
