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View Full Version : The Porn Star, the Senate Seat, and the Exploding Car




teacherone
08-05-2009, 03:24 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) It's been a tough week for porn actress Stormy Daniels - complete with a domestic violence charge and a car explosion - as she continues to mull a U.S. Senate bid that could make life uncomfortable for incumbent first-term Louisiana Republican David Vitter, still recovering from a sex scandal.

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2009/05/07/image4998089x.jpg
Daniels was arrested Saturday on a domestic violence battery charge after she allegedly hit her husband at their home in Tampa, Fla., during a dispute about laundry and unpaid bills.

Her arrest came two days after her political adviser in Louisiana, Brian Welsh, said his parked 1996 Audi may have been blown up by someone on July 23 outside his apartment in an upscale downtown area of New Orleans.

"It's something out of The Sopranos," said Edward E. Chervenak, a professor of politics at the University of New Orleans. “Very weird.”

In May, Daniels announced that she was interested in a 2010 run for the Senate seat held by Vitter, whose family-values reputation was marred in 2007 when his name was linked to a Washington prostitution ring.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford, has not officially declared herself a candidate, but has continued to express an interest. She has acknowledged that she hasn't lived in Louisiana for years and would need to re-establish residency to run for Senate. The 30-year-old Louisiana native kicked off a second “listening tour” in early July.

Daniels was arrested Saturday at 3:18 p.m. after her husband, Michael Mosny, reported that Daniels hit him several times, according to a Tampa Police Department report. Police said neither Mosny nor Daniels were injured.

Mosny told police that Daniels was upset “about the way the clothes had been done” and then “got more upset about some bills that had not been paid,” the police report said.


http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2009/05/07/image4998090x.jpg
(AP Photo/Bill Haber)
Stormy Daniels visits a local restaurant in downtown New Orleans, Wednesday, May 6, 2009.

The police report said Daniels allegedly "threw a potted plant at the kitchen sink," hit Mosny on the head several times and “threw their wedding album onto the floor and knocked candles off coffee table, breaking them.”

The bad week, though, started on July 23 when her political adviser's car blew up in suspicious circumstances in New Orleans.

Welsh, a Democratic adviser and manager of the Stormy Daniels Senate Exploratory Committee LLC., said his Audi convertible exploded into flames around 11:15 p.m. July 23, a Thursday, while he and his wife were walking their dog nearby.

He said he became suspicious after reviewing surveillance tapes of the street where his car was parked, wedged between other vehicles.

On fuzzy security tapes that Welsh posted on YouTube, a person in a white shirt can be seen loitering around his car and apparently getting into it shortly before the car explodes in a ball of flames.

Firefighters responded to a 911 call at 11:23 p.m. and put the fire out by 12:06 a.m., said Michael Williams of the New Orleans Fire Department.

Welsh's car was parked Wednesday in the same spot where it caught on fire, on a little-used street near the New Orleans convention center.

New Orleans police and the FBI did not immediately comment.

Welsh said he had no suspects, but feared someone caused the explosion.

"Maybe there is a reason, more of an intentional reason for the car blowing up,” Welsh said. “I want to get more facts."

Welsh said he was uncertain if the explosion was connected to his work with Daniels.

"Clearly, if someone tried to blow up my car, it's cause for concern; it's not cause for me to stop doing my job, stop me from talking about the things that are important," Welsh said. "If anybody had been walking by when that car blew up, they would have been seriously injured or killed."

"I really wish this had not happened," Welsh, 38, said. "I need a car."

YouTube - My car blows up real good (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzzlMM3ZBBI&eurl=http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/30/crimesider/entry5197509.shtml&feature=player_embedded)

jmdrake
08-05-2009, 03:57 PM
A porn star versus an incumbent implicated in a sex ring. That should be interesting.

Sandman33
08-05-2009, 05:25 PM
A woman that beats a man gets nothing....if a man had hit HER he'd still be in jail.

And she wants to run for office? WTF.

PaulaGem
08-05-2009, 05:43 PM
They did say neither party was hurt, so I wouldn't classify it as a "beating", would you?

D.V. enforcement is still very arbitrary.

BlackTerrel
08-05-2009, 08:36 PM
A woman that beats a man gets nothing....if a man had hit HER he'd still be in jail.

And she wants to run for office? WTF.

It sounds like he didn't do the laundry correctly and was giving her attitude.

acptulsa
08-06-2009, 06:14 AM
Hope she runs and wins. That'll keep McCain too distracted to cause more trouble.

Sandra
08-06-2009, 06:16 AM
She's not even a legal resident of Louisiana. The idiot's from Florida and said not even registered to vote.

jmdrake
08-06-2009, 06:27 AM
A woman that beats a man gets nothing....if a man had hit HER he'd still be in jail.

And she wants to run for office? WTF.

From the above article: Daniels was arrested Saturday on a domestic violence battery charge after she allegedly hit her husband at their home in Tampa, Fla., during a dispute about laundry and unpaid bills.

Sounds like she went to jail. Even men who hit their wives don't stay in jail forever. (*cough* O.J. Simpson *cough*)

Pepsi
08-06-2009, 06:34 AM
Marilyn Chambers ran for Vice President in 2004, so why not?

TonySutton
08-06-2009, 06:48 AM
I doubt there is anything to this. The video is not too good but it looks more like a fire than an explosion. Typically an explosion is extremely big, then smaller. Audi's have had more than one recall related to a faulty headlight switch causing car fires. Sounds more like an aging porn star trying to get some extra DVD sales. Is she a liberty candidate?

acptulsa
08-06-2009, 06:54 AM
Electrical fires smolder for a while, then grow--usually slowly.

There was also a porn star in Italy a while back who ran for their parliament. I'd post a picture, but she mostly campaigned topless. Such candidates seldom add substance to the debate, but at least they tend to curtail voter apathy.

TonySutton
08-06-2009, 07:04 AM
Electrical fires smolder for a while, then grow--usually slowly.



Yes, I agree, but a smoldering fire will burst to life if it hits something which is highly combustible. The video does not help much either way. The fire does seem to come more from the passenger area than from the engine or underneath, which is where I would expect an incendiary device to be planted.

It would be nice if we could see more of the tape before the fire.