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

[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.

[GeronL]

Liberals are always saying we should go after the dealers and not the users. Think they'll spin it that way?

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

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.

[pubmom]

My thoughts exactly.

[PRND21]

"All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

Telling analogy.

[lora_one]

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.

[Junior_G]

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.

[RobFromGa]

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...

[Swiss]

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.

[Tree of Liberty]

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.

[Reagan Man]

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

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

D'oh...I thought the headline said "maid sex". Did anyone else read it that way?

[GOP Jedi]

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.

[lainie]

Doesn't say how much $ the Enquirer gave her.

[AHerald]

Sh*t... Talk about about having a bad day.

[Junior_G]

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.

[MJY1288]

Wilma Cline is actually William Clinton in Drag

[Mo1]

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

[Mo1]

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??

[lainie]

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.

[lara]

I'm with you and behind Rush 100%.