Fund-raiser for GOP pleads guilty in case of child pornography

Delgaudio took pictures of a 16-year-old girl

By Allison Klein
Sun Staff

A prominent Republican fund-raiser who once said former President Bill Clinton was "a lawbreaker and a terrible example to our nation's young people" pleaded guilty yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court to production of child pornography.

Richard Anthony Delgaudio, who was sentenced to two years' probation before judgment, admitted to taking lewd photographs of a 16-year-old girl he met in East Baltimore's Patterson Park in 2001. In some of the photos, he was engaged in sex with her, court records show.

Delgaudio, 50, of Burke, Va., is a frequent talk-radio guest and national figure in conservative politics. He is president of the Legal Affairs Council, a group that helped pay the legal bills of former Reagan administration officials Oliver L. North and Caspar W. Weinberger after they were charged in connection with the Iran-contra affair.
In his pornography case, there was additional evidence that Delgaudio took erotic images of at least one other, younger teen-ager, but that evidence was not admissible in court because police improperly stopped and searched Delgaudio, a judge ruled.

Largely because of that, prosecutor Adam C. Rosenberg offered Delgaudio a plea agreement, rather than taking the case to a jury.

"This is a satisfying outcome because it ends a lot of legal issues," Rosenberg said.

In yesterday's ruling, Judge John M. Glynn ordered Delgaudio to stay away from Patterson Park and the neighboring Butchers Hill area. The judge also publicly acknowledged Delgaudio's humiliation.

"Mr. Delgaudio has been very active in the state of Virginia and around the country. He was a respected member of the community," Glynn said. "This type of thing is a mortifying experience."

Delgaudio thanked the judge for his "good work." He is not able to appeal because of the conditions of the plea agreement.

After the hearing, Delgaudio - who is also an author of political books - refused to comment about his case.
In a letter to the judge, Delgaudio's attorneys - Bruce Fein and Howard L. Cardin - wrote that he was remorseful and did not know the girls were underage.

"He acknowledges the acute moral shortcomings of his conduct, and he will continue intense self-examination and professional and spiritual counseling," the lawyers wrote in the letter, dated yesterday.

Cardin also said he did not want to speak about the case after yesterday's hearing but described his client as "brilliant and eloquent."

Delgaudio, who has no prior record, was arrested in November 2001 with a book of obscene photographs he had taken of 15- and 16-year-old girls, according to court documents. The teen-agers went with him on several occasions to a hotel on Pulaski Highway, where they had sex and he paid them to pose in erotic positions for his camera, records show. The girls told Delgaudio their ages, according to police.

As part of his restitution to the community, his attorney said Delgaudio would contribute $5,000 to "young mothers who are in distress and in need."

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.delgaudio24apr24,0,5369464.story

A FEW REPUBLICAN HYPOCRITES

Rep. Henry Hyde�(R-IL-6) chairs the House Judiciary Committee which impeached President Clinton. Hyde holds the�Olympic Gold Medal for hypocrisy. He claims to be the "conscience" of the House, but concealed his own affair and called for an FBI investigation of the source when it was revealed. He claims to champion "family values," but his�affair with a married woman�broke up her marriage and left her husband embittered.

Rep. Bob Barr�(R-GA-7).�Mother Jones�described his family values: "Married three times and embroiled in a messy court battle with his second wife over his failure to pay child support, Barr had been photographed in 1992 licking whipped cream off two buxom young women's [breasts and nipples]. And this from the man who would later sponsor the Defense of Marriage Act." Barr's child support failings led his second wife,�Gail Vogel Barr, to provide details of her�abortion� to Larry Flynt. Vogel Barr reported that Barr, one of the most militant abortion opponents in Congress who would outlaw all abortions, actually paid for her abortion. She also reported that Barr invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination in refusing to acknowledge his affair with his soon-to-be third wife while under oath in divorce proceeding.

Rep. Dan Burton�(R-IN-6). Following an expose, Burton was forced to admit that he fathered an out-of-wedlock child, a fact he denied for years. Still, he has yet to admit that during 38 years of marriage he has committed adultery with dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of women, sexually assaulted others (including a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood), and kept mistresses on his campaign and public payrolls - to the tune of at least a�half-million dollars.�
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Rep. Charles Canady�(R-FL-12). A leading opponent of abortion, Canady lied to his constituents about his adulterous affair with Sharon Becker, which caused her divorce from Florida businessman Robert Becker.

J.C. Watts�(R-OK-4). Has spent years covering up his out-of-wedlock children.

Rep. Helen Chenoweth�(R-ID-1). Chenoweth expouses the�militia theory of "black helicopters,"�claiming that the government is using secret black helicopters to enforce the Endangered Species Act, which she vehemently opposes. In the 1998 campaign, after questioning her opponent's stand on moral issues, Chenoweth admitted to a�six-year adulterous affair with a married associate.�In 1995, Chenoweth had denied the affair when asked about it by the Spokane Spokesman-Review, but now she claims a pardon from a higher authority: "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it," she reports.�

Rep. Sue Myrick�(R-NC-9) describes herself as a "devout Christian." In 1989, Myrick was running for a second term as Charlotte mayor when news reports revealed that she committed adultery with a married man in 1973. Myrick admitted the adultery and won reelection.�

Rep. Ken Calvert�(R-CA-43) is a champion of the Christian Coalition and its "family values." But he was sued as an alimony deadbeat by his ex-wife. He also said "We can't forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky." But in 1993 he was caught by police receiving oral sex from a prostitute and attempted to flee the scene.�

Rep. John Peterson�(R-PA-5) has been accused of sexual harassment and creation of a hostile work environment by six women. Peterson has refused to admit a crime, saying only "I may have been an excessive hugger."

Rep. Newt Gingrich�(R-GA-6). Gingrich is widely known for�adultery, and claims that "oral sex is not sex." His idea of "family values" was to present his first wife (his high school math teacher) with divorce papers while she recovered from cancer. The�Irish Times�reports that the real reason Gingrich resigned was that Hustler Magazine had credit card receipts showing that Gingrich paid for prostitutes.

Rep. Bob Livingston�(R-LA-1) is best known for his screaming rage when Republicans shut down the federal government in 1996: "We will stay here until doomsday," he thundered. When the GOP's losses in the 1998 elections undermined Newt Gingrich's grip on power, Livingston was chosen to replace him. On the verge of power, Livingston suddenly admitted that he had committed adultery "on occasion," and a day later he dramatically announced he would resign. He said he wanted to set an example for President Clinton to follow; but according to the�Irish Times, tapes of Livingston engaging in sado-masochistic sex talk are in the possession of Hustler Magazine.

Trent Lott�(R-MS). When his connections to the white supremacist Conservative Citizens Council (CCC) was revealed, Lott chose to�lie� by claiming he only gave one speech to the group 10 years ago. In fact, Lott has had extensive contacts with the group, as recently as 1997.

Strom Thurmond�(R-SC) began his long political career as a militant segregationist in South Carolina. Yet during that time, he may have fathered and supported an African-American child. His relentless pursuit of women earned him the nickname "The Sperminator."

David Schippers�(special impeachment counsel to the House Judiciary Committee) played a pivotal role in persuading House Republicans to push ahead for the Clinton impeachment, even after the elections proved diastrous for the GOP. But Schippers�had his own secret mistress for 25 years�-- and he had the nerve to bring her to the Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings! Nancy Ruggero was a young secretary in his office nearly Monica Lewinsky's age when their affair began in the early 1970's. Schippers, now 69, had 10 children with his wife of 45 years, Jackie, whom he called "his one and only sweetheart," on 60 Minutes. Moreover Schippers, who originally trained for the priesthood, is a "papal knight" - one of only several hundred in the world - and told the New Republic that adultery is, indeed, a mortal sin.

George Will�(TV Pundit and Syndicated Columnist). Will, who is a vicious critic of "moral relativity," committed adultery against his first wife, Madeleine; when she found out, she dumped his clothing in a pile in the driveway with a sign saying�"Take it somewhere else, buster."�Will's divorce left his wife with their Downs syndrome daughter.

(adapted from material at www.democrats.com/display.cfm )