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NY Daily News: Rush Limbaugh in Pill Probe -- Talk radio star had drug habit, maid sez
NY Daily News & Drudge ^ | October 1, 2003 | Tracy Connor

Posted on 10/01/2003 10:41:34 PM PDT by lainie

Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.

The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.

Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.

"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."

The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation.

His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private and not newsworthy.

They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.

The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.

Scoring in parking lot

Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.

She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.

She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.

In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.

"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."

The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his Palm Beach mansion.

It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was.

"He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?'"

Husband's pills

Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.

"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.

The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.

After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.

But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.

Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.

Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.

In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.

After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."

She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.

Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted prosecutors.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: addiction; afraidofrush; algorelostgetoverit; claslessdailynews; dailynewsnoclass; danzachary; edshohat; hitpiece; jerryfox; limbaugh; nationalenquirer; nydailynews; recovery; rush; rushlimbaugh; sleazydailynews; tabloidjournalism; talkradio; terrifiedofrush; wilmacline; wodlist
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To: lainie; JohnHuang2; Sabertooth
Liberals are always saying we should go after the dealers and not the users. Think they'll spin it that way?
21 posted on 10/01/2003 10:48:47 PM PDT by GeronL (The War is not the Presidents hobby!)
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To: lainie
Bill Clinton had forcible anal sex with dogs. I said it, it must be so (mods, I don't mind if you delete my post, in fact I probably deserve it). If someone hits abuse on me I won't raise a fuss.
22 posted on 10/01/2003 10:48:58 PM PDT by TrappedInLiberalHell (Hillary walks into a bar. Let's hope it leaves a nice bump on her forehead.)
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To: MJY1288
My thoughts exactly.
23 posted on 10/01/2003 10:49:02 PM PDT by pubmom ("911" is not a suitable substitute for a .45)
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To: lainie
"All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

Telling analogy.

24 posted on 10/01/2003 10:49:04 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: lainie
I can just imagine the Dems ----- rubbing their hands together and drooling. They've been digging for this type of "something" for 15 years. Don't think it's gonna' matter----not to me.
25 posted on 10/01/2003 10:49:36 PM PDT by lora_one (You only live once ---- Enjoy it !!!)
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To: Ingtar
The optimist in me is hoping that all this time he's been building some sort of sculpture out of all those pills. It will be called "vindication" and will look like 4-foot tall smurf.
26 posted on 10/01/2003 10:49:38 PM PDT by Junior_G
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To: lainie
I've listened to Rush for over ten years, and he sure seems sharp to me, maybe the pills are what he means by "half his brain tied behind his back".

Imagine a non-druggie Rush and how focused he would be. what a crock. Maybe Couric will interview Michael Moore about what this means tomorrow morning?

I am behind Rush 100%, they are getting desparate, Rush, Pres. Bush and Arnold all simultaneously-- IT's the PERFECT STORM...
27 posted on 10/01/2003 10:50:05 PM PDT by RobFromGa (Sen. Joe McCarthy helped win our death-match against the USSR- Pass it on!)
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To: lainie
This comes out the same time that Al Gore plans to buy a cable news network. I predict Bill O'Reilly and Brit Hume is next to clear the way.
28 posted on 10/01/2003 10:50:13 PM PDT by Swiss
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To: Ingtar
One, I presume that WABC does random drug testing of its employees, of which Mr. Limbaugh is one. Two, I wonder what the LD50 is of the respective drugs she accuses him of taking.
29 posted on 10/01/2003 10:50:16 PM PDT by Tree of Liberty (Do you work for good, or for awesome?)
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To: lainie
Somethings not right about this story. Sounds like an embellishment of the highest order. The highest liberal order. To liberals anything can be turned into a scandal, if you work at it enough.

With Rush`s recent hearing problems, his unique operation for a cochlear implant and his continued radio show, pain and discomfort sounds likely. Abuse of pills is not out of the question. But a black market? Hmmm

30 posted on 10/01/2003 10:50:36 PM PDT by Reagan Man (The few, the proud, the conservatives.)
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To: TrappedInLiberalHell
D'oh...I thought the headline said "maid sex". Did anyone else read it that way?
31 posted on 10/01/2003 10:50:57 PM PDT by TrappedInLiberalHell (Hillary walks into a bar. Let's hope it leaves a nice bump on her forehead.)
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To: GeronL
Is the Clinton camp attempting to deep six Rush before her run? Why now?

(And if Rush gets caught in the South Florida legal system, God have mercy on his soul. That's Janet Reno's old stomping ground.
32 posted on 10/01/2003 10:51:25 PM PDT by GOP Jedi
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To: Petronski
Doesn't say how much $ the Enquirer gave her.
33 posted on 10/01/2003 10:51:27 PM PDT by lainie
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To: lainie
Sh*t... Talk about about having a bad day.
34 posted on 10/01/2003 10:52:03 PM PDT by AHerald
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To: lora_one
Now if it were revealed that some democrat had a pill problem, we'd see liberals oozing sympathy.

This story will just inspire malice and giddy contempt from the liberal crowd.

35 posted on 10/01/2003 10:52:10 PM PDT by Junior_G
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To: lainie
Wilma Cline is actually William Clinton in Drag
36 posted on 10/01/2003 10:52:33 PM PDT by MJY1288 (Joseph Wilson is a fraud)
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To: lainie
She went to the prosecutors office to tell them she was supplying Rush with drugs???

I hope she realizes that she could do jail time for being a drug dealer

That is .. if this is true

37 posted on 10/01/2003 10:53:01 PM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: Reagan Man
With Rush`s recent hearing problems, his unique operation for a cochlear implant and his continued radio show, pain and discomfort sounds likely. Abuse of pills is not out of the question. But a black market? Hmmm

More like Blackmail maybe??

38 posted on 10/01/2003 10:54:25 PM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: GeronL
Ooh, I know. "He's a victim!" doesn't quite work for them in this case.

Meanwhile, the Smell-A L.A. Times is "smearing" Arnold with he-touched-my-boob stories from 20 years ago, AFTER having defended Clinton all those times.
39 posted on 10/01/2003 10:54:27 PM PDT by lainie
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To: RobFromGa
I'm with you and behind Rush 100%.
40 posted on 10/01/2003 10:54:39 PM PDT by lara
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