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.
Look at there full court press, going after Arnold on the groping, GWB and Ashcroft on this CIA thing, and Now Rush with a Drug Habit.
If this isn't Hillary and Co. and the Art of Personal Destruction Crowd trying to pull down ALL GOP numbers so she can throw her hat in the ring, I am Richard Millhouse Nixon.
I am not a Tim Foil Hat Type but man, This is starting to like a number of invented problems.
Also Rush has been making a lot of enemies lately, The Powell Media Bill in particular has even GOP types in his crosshairs, McCain and Lott in particular. Constant name calling (Nykita and the French looking, which I think are very funny by the way) probably have a number of people looking to bring him down via public scandal, even if it invented.
I think the are scared $&!+{e$$ about the GOP taking CA and the possibility of the 54 electorial votes going the GOP's way. They are good at stealing elections, but they probably know they are not that good.... My opinion anyway, not based on any fact.
She was even on the local news last night calling for an independent counsel on the CIA leak -- if you can believe that!
I need to remember to take a deep breath (a VERY deep breath) and - being a Christian - I will then remember that God IS in Control!!
May God have mercy on us.
I think that's FAR more likely than everything in this article being true. I want to wait to hear what Rush has to say about it before I rush to judgment. But I can't imagine Rush saying the things to this woman she claims and crying to her. Sorry.
Hillary take a back seat to anyone? < chortle > That witch had to take a public "back seat" to Bill for 8 years; no way she's doing that again.
Not quite. I'm not saying I was the first, but I do have an earlier post in which I state, "...not only does the amount seem way out of line (even if he was hoarding)..."
Known a few druggies in my day. I know what they do re getting their drugs, hoarding them if they can, etc. I think several people have posted similar remarks.
Not that any of this is important, I just like to point things out. : )
It would be CNN. I wonder how. I don't imagine the state attorney's office is willing to talk on the record.
You know, so do I. I went to bed late and woke up very early w/the 'nervous stomach.' that I usually get before I have to present a paper. I'm surprised that I feel so much for someone I don't know.
I'm diabetic and take a blood sugar reading each morning. It was a lot higher this am, which can happen from stress. Only it's not my stress, it's Rush's! I will avoid the news for today and just hang w/FReepers.
After spending the last 2 years or so helping my sister overcome a pain scrip addition, I can tell you that if he was taking that many, I don't see how he was functioning enough to do a radio show and make public appearance.
My family and I could tell when my sister walked in the door whether or not she had been taking any pills.
As a sidenote my sister has been clean for 8 months now.
This may well be true, but it is also indicative of how misguided Dims are. Do they really think that if there were no more Rush, or a diminished conservative talk radio industry, that conservatives would start voting for Dims???
Rush isn't running for anything. Attacking him has zilch effect on how I will vote and may even make we move to Chicago so I can vote Republican twice!
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