Posted on 07/11/2004 10:16:42 PM PDT by MadIvan
IT LOOKED like Jessica Cutler’s career was over when she was fired by a United States senator for using the office computer to chronicle her sex life on the internet. But the publishing industry never can resist a good scandal on Capitol Hill.
In a deal said to be worth $300,000 (almost £170,000), the junior aide who shocked Washington with her lurid online "blogs" of sex with congressional colleagues - including a married White House appointee - has been signed up by Hyperion to write a novel based on her encounters.
Given the nature of the author’s "research", the deal seems an unlikely marriage. Hyperion is the publishing arm of Disney, a company noted for its love of all things chaste and wholesome, while Ms Cutler, 26, became known as the Harlot on the Hill.
"I think that the people who have these blogs and post these websites are fascinating," Pilar Queen, of the literary agency Carlisle & Co, told the Washington Post in the course of head-hunting Ms Cutler.
"We’re thinking about a book focused on sex on the Hill, her experiences of working as an intern. Clearly, she has something that she wants to get out there."
Indeed she does; in addition to the book deal, Ms Cutler has agreed to pose nude for Playboy’s November issue.
In the space of just two weeks in May, the former Syracuse University student became the talk of congressional circles with her anonymous web postings in which she shared in graphic detail her simultaneous affairs with six men and crushes on several others, all of them referred to only by their initials.
Writing under the pseudonym Washingtonienne, she gave few clues as to her own identity, save to boast that she had "a glamour job on the Hill" - a generous assessment given that her role later turned out to involve little more than opening envelopes in the post-room of Senator Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican.
"I could not care less about government or politics, but working for a senator looks good on my resumé and these marble hallways are such great places for meeting boys and showing off my outfits," she noted on her site.
It was not just her musings about sexual dalliances that so titillated Washington, but the revelation that some of them paid her for it, which she saw as a means to top up a lamentable $25,000 (less than £14,000) pay cheque.
"Most of my living expenses are thankfully subsidised by a few generous older gentlemen. I’m sure I am not the only one who makes money on the side this way: how can anyone live on $25k a year?" she reasoned.
The cast of characters included "AJ", an intern who worked in the same office; "MK", a "serious long-term boyfriend" who she was seeing again after a break-up; and "R", also known as Threesome Dude.
"W" was a sugar-daddy whose sexual tastes she disapproved of but tolerated because "the money is too good" and "F" was described as a "married man who pays me for sex. Chief of Staff at one of the government agencies, appointed by Bush".
On one blog, she confessed: "I just took a long lunch with F and made a quick $400. When I returned to the office, I heard that my boss was asking about my whereabouts. Loser."
F, it seems, even had a key to her apartment because she got home one day to find he had let himself in and left her a gift of a food blender. "Why didn’t he call first?" she pondered. "What if I was in bed with my intern and F popped in with a surprise blender?"
"MD" was later identified on other internet sites that picked up the story as Matt Doyle, a staffer working for Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a respected Democrat and family-values champion who ran for vice-president at the 2000 election. Mr Doyle hired Ms Cutler for a two-month internship in Senator Lieberman’s office in January.
Another of her liaisons, "RS", turned out to be Robert Steinbuch, a lawyer who works for Senator DeWine and is also a part-time ethics instructor. Thanks to Ms Cutler, all of Washington now knows that "he likes spanking".
"He’s very up-front about sex, he likes talking dirty and stuff," Ms Cutler confided on her website. "He told me that he likes submissive women. Good, now I can take it easy in bed."
Ms Cutler got the sack after fellow "blogger" Ana Marie Cox - who maintains a political gossip site under the name of Wonkette - outed her as the woman behind Washingtonienne. The two were later spotted partying together, leading to speculation that the whole thing was a publicity-seeking set-up.
If it was, her Hyperion deal is proof that it paid off. Ms Cutler maintains that she only ever wrote the weblog to amuse her friends but is not ashamed of it. In fact, she says of her prolific liaisons: "For most people I know, that’s a typical week."
That's an insult to "the boys".
Beavis and Butthead were the last media icons (with a few exceptions) that represented the un-metrosexual American male.
Mike Judge, their creator, never missed an opportunity to make fun of a leftist do-gooder or control freak.
There ya go!
It is a shame that Cutler and her friend acted the way they did. At the same time, it is a shame that politicians and other staffers hired them. Cutler did not have Republican credentials and most likely grabbed the job over another more sincere recent college grad. who actually had a history of Republican activism. If I were an Ohio resident, I would call up DeWine's office and inquire as to who the hell hired Cutler in the first place.
As for whether or not it is safe to send one's children to intern on the Hill; I believe it is. If someone does not have a set system of morals and ethics, they will get into trouble no matter where they work. If someone stands firm in their beliefs and morals, they can work at places such as the Hill and be able to hold their head high no matter where they move throughout their career.
You've been missed.
She actually dated a friend of mine before all this broke (he wasn't one of the guys mentioned on her blog). Apparently, she's got a body to kill for and her face looks okay when she's made up.
Total psycho, apparently.
Just like kids today say oral sex isn't sex and credit that to Clinton, maybe she's going off of Bob Packwood's example.
Well, there goes most of the executive and legislative branches. It would be a nice housecleaning.
Its getting more play beyond Ohio's borders than it is inside Ohio.
I can't help wishing Dewine would spend more time focused on his own staff, and less time sermonizing how the rest of us should live our lives.
Regards, Ivan
It ought to and I should think that more Ohioans would want to call up Senator DeWine and inquire of this. Afterall, their tax monies are going to fun DeWine's salary and his staff. The Heritage Foundation's Job Bank at all given times has around 1,600 conservatives in their database looking for jobs in Washington. Most of these individuals are most likely recent conservative college grads. Yep, it is a shame that DeWine's staffers didn't seem to be too concerned about hiring an actual conservative for the job. IMHO, loyalty is the first quality any employer should look for in a potential employee. Cutler obviously didn't possess loyalty to the conservative cause, to put shame on a Republican Senate office like this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.