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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: YaYa123
Loved your post. You're my kind of yaya, YaYa!
721 posted on 10/02/2003 6:04:02 AM PDT by truthkeeper
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To: lainie
Another doubting Thomas here! Oxycontin - 80 mg. a day cut my sister's cancer related pain and induced sleep. Her normal clear speech also slurred.

....the need to get this man off the air must be a priority for some powerful source.

722 posted on 10/02/2003 6:04:30 AM PDT by janee
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To: MJY1288
What a crock of steaming cow dung...

"Steaming" ....lol!

723 posted on 10/02/2003 6:05:51 AM PDT by AAABEST (I phoned the pest control department and their response was to send me a leaflet)
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To: lainie
Isn't it interesting this story is breaking on a day when Rush will not be on the radio - he's the keynote speaker for the National Assoc of Broadcasters. I'm sure the conspiracy crew will think this 'proves' the story is correct!
724 posted on 10/02/2003 6:06:46 AM PDT by Alissa
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To: Lurkd Long Enough
Just a thought, maybe it is time to go back to lurking.
725 posted on 10/02/2003 6:07:23 AM PDT by wingnuts'nbolts
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To: oldironsides
Smell the Arkansas Mafia in on this?

You know it. All of these stories in the recent news cycle emerged after the Chappaqua pow-wow took place.

726 posted on 10/02/2003 6:07:53 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
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To: All
Good morning. Fox news is not touching the drug thing. They are reporting Rush's resigning from ESPN but nothing about the Enquirer / New Youry Daily News stories.

Interesting.

727 posted on 10/02/2003 6:09:00 AM PDT by slimer (i'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take it anymore!)
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To: Tree of Liberty
People as high up as Rush don't get tested. That's only for peons like you and me. (Unless you're the boss, in which case you're too high up for such demeaning.)
728 posted on 10/02/2003 6:12:04 AM PDT by Xenalyte (I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I'll defend to the death your right to stick it)
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To: lainie
:|...just what we expecting, right before the election, too...what timing. Typical 'RAT media trick "all perception,no substance"...(funny thing, a Clinton Bootlicker is/was a chief shark/lawyer for NE, too.) All the 'RATS needed was a willing $tooge, and they found one...the maid. The qestion is, "How much did NE/DNC=Clintons/Grayout pay the maid for the smear?" The liberals will pay $$$$$ for this...and you can't unring a bell, too. Back in '93?, A Clinton bootlicker said Limbaugh was a problem. This is only, the most recent attack...there will be more for sure.
729 posted on 10/02/2003 6:13:05 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: Fracas
I didn't know that .. Thanks
730 posted on 10/02/2003 6:15:23 AM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: wingnuts'nbolts
You sound much too pleased about this big hit on Rush when there is nothing to back up such insane witch hunting by the insane left.

Oh no, I am a big Rush fan. Even if this is true, I will remain a fan of most of his views, as I am now. I think this is sad, sad because if true, being hooked on painpills is a sad thing (I have known a couple of good people who got hooked on pain pills). Sad because if it is not true or grossly distorted, a mans reputation can be so easily trashed.

731 posted on 10/02/2003 6:15:36 AM PDT by Paradox (I dont believe in taglines, in fact, this tagline does not exist.)
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To: Diddle E. Squat
She's home free now. She'll get immunity for testimony. There's got to be some basis to the story, else she would be sued from here to eternity.

We shall see .. but I'll lay odds that either this is a bogus claim or she is REALLY embellishing this story.

732 posted on 10/02/2003 6:18:29 AM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: truthkeeper
... she also claims the supposed e-mail correspondence has all been "destroyed."

Uh huh. “Daze all gone... poof. Musta' bin his wife Marta hackin' in on my com-puter. Oh yea... massuh Rush used to beat me wit dat damn ceegar too. Sheeeit... dey im-peached my prez'dent Clinton for de same thang! Laws knows de libbin' hell he put me thru!”

733 posted on 10/02/2003 6:19:30 AM PDT by johnny7 (Hear Tara's Song in the background?)
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To: Yaelle
You are worse than a fair weather friend. One who actually enjoys the downfall of a friend. Which is what Rush has been to all Conservatives and Republicans, a friend who spread the good word! Now comes you to insinuate and whine about expecting more of Rush. Another CA wacko.
734 posted on 10/02/2003 6:19:49 AM PDT by wingnuts'nbolts
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To: lainie
Damn.
I lost track. Is Limbaugh running for some public office and I missed it?

Wait.
Never mind.

How many FBI files were accidentally found in the bedroom of the smartest woman in the world again?
I always wondered what happened to the Contract with America.

Are former first executives and their familiars immune from prosecution for wholesale blackmail?

735 posted on 10/02/2003 6:20:03 AM PDT by Publius6961 (californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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To: GOPrincess
I want to go on the record as being in complete agreement with the others who believe that this is an organized effort to destroy our beloved Rush. This has B.S. written all over it.

Prayers are being sent up, and I encourage others to do the same, for however long it takes.

"Just once, whether it's Frist and filibusters or Rush and ESPN, I want to see a conservative say "I'm not going to take it anymore" and push back."

AMEN sister!

SEE where his "new tone" has gotten us?

Are you listening, GOP? ...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

This is WAR and you don't win wars by appeasement!!!

736 posted on 10/02/2003 6:20:29 AM PDT by Ferret Fawcet ("A wise man's heart inclines him toward the Right, but a fool's heart...to the Left" ~Ecc. 10:2)
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To: All
I told everyone we are at war with the 'rats... but does anyone listen? Nooooooo.... so now we have the Wilson thing, and this, and...
737 posted on 10/02/2003 6:21:10 AM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (<Tag>Something unspeakably clever</Tag>)
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To: MJY1288
Wilma Cline is actually William Clinton in Drag.

HEHEHEHE...Wilma Jane Bulah Cline = William Jefferson Blight Clinton...GOOD ONE :))

738 posted on 10/02/2003 6:21:42 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: Ferret Fawcet
Are you listening, GOP? ...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Hey, it worked against Trent Lott. The race card is their best weapon. That's their strategy. Take a mole hill and turn it into a mountain with the help of the liberal media.

739 posted on 10/02/2003 6:23:12 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
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To: joyce11111
What can be done to counter all of this hysteria

I know what I'm doing.

I'm going to vote and get everyone I know also to vote.

And I'll stop analyzing.
Just identify who these bottom dwellers are attacking.
They want war?
Come and get it.

740 posted on 10/02/2003 6:23:37 AM PDT by Publius6961 (californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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