[VadeRetro]

A sham relationship as a cover for whatever's really going on. Usually used to refer to a gay man escorting a woman around as a way of acting straight, a masculinizing "beard."

[Hildy]

Here's what I've found via a google search thus far:

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.: Robert Farmer, 64, Clinton's 1992 treasurer and a longtime Kerry financial backer, is running Kerry's fundraising operation. Farmer, the openly gay Clinton administration ambassador to Bermuda who splits his time between Boston and Miami Beach, worked for John Glenn in ‘84, was Mike Dukakis' chief fundraiser in '88 and DNC treasurer after that. Longtime Kerry fundraiser Peter Maroney, who used to work for former Rep. Joseph Kennedy, is working with Farmer. Maroney was finance director for Kerry's PAC from 1999 until the presidential campaign officially started. Of course, the big question persists: Could John Kerry's real money person be his wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry?

[per loin]

Could be a variation on that theme, a gay shill used to cover Kerry. About the only thing I've found on Peter maroney is that he is a protege of Terry McAulliff, which makes any sort of dirty deed likely.