Bush AIDS Abstinence Appointee Quits State Dept. In Hooker Scandal
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: April 29, 2007 - 12:00 pm ET
(Washington) Randall Tobias, the head of the US Agency for International Development and President Bush's former coordinator for global AIDS relief, has quit amid allegations he was a client of a high-priced DC call-girl ring.
In announcing his resignation the State Department said on that Tobias was resigning for personal reasons.
ABC News was given the names of clients of what has been described as an exclusive escort service in the capital by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the owner of the service who has been charged with running a prostitution ring.
Palfrey, who is 65 and married, maintained in an interview with the Washington Post that her service provided university educated women to engage in legal game-playing of a sexual nature at 275 dollars an hour for a 90 minute session.
Tobias' name was among those clients. He submitted his resignation a day after being confronted by the network.
In an interview with ABC he confirmed that he had called the Pamela Martin and Associates escort service to have women come to his condo and give him massages. But he denied there was any sex involved.
Tobias, 65, who is married,
In 2003 Bush appointed Tobias as the first global AIDS coordinator. For three years he promoted abstinence over the use of condoms, and fidelity in traditional marriage, to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and was blamed for tying abstinence programs to aid to foreign countries.
His agency also funneled money to faith-based groups that not only preached abstinence, faithfulness, and denounced sex between men or ignored male-on-male sex altogether in AIDS educational programs.
In 2006 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Tobias to head USAID.
Before joining the Bush administration Tobias was chair, president and chief executive of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. In addition, from 1997-2000, he was chair of the board of trustees at Duke University. |
