Bill Pryor at badpuppy.com
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) resigned last week and now faces an FBI investigation to determine if his spending activities rise to the level of criminal behavior. For good measure, Schock has faced rumors for several years that he is gay, even though he has consistently voted against gay-rights measures.All of this reminds us of Birmingham-based federal judge William H. "Bill" Pryor, who was exposed here at Legal Schnauzer in fall 2013, for having appeared nude in a series of photos that were shot while he was in college in the 1980s but gained new life when they appeared on a gay-porn Web site called badpuppy.com in the 1990s. As for Schock, the gay stories originated with journalist Itay Hod and eventually made their way into The New York Times.
Pryor still holds a lifetime position, to which George W. Bush appointed him, and we are not aware of any investigation into Pryor's activities. But like Schock, Pryor appears to be a world-class hypocrite, given his ardently anti-gay positions. More importantly, our research indicates Pryor has engaged in misconduct that would dwarf any allegations against Aaron Schock.
From his seat on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Pryor essentially serves as a fixer for conservative, pro-business interests, multiple sources tell Legal Schnauzer. When Pryor ran for Alabama attorney general in the 1990s, his campaign manager was GOP guru Karl Rove. Our sources state that Rove knew about Pryor's connections to gay porn--and knew they would make him vulnerable to a not-so-subtle form of blackmail. In other words, Pryor would guide certain cases in the proper GOP direction or risk having his porn photos released.
The D.C.-based Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) apparently was first to break the Pryor story, in 2009. The site requires a subscription, but we have received permission to publish certain items here. This is a portion of Madsen's piece on Bill Pryor:
June 15, 2009 -- Is there a closet door closed at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta?
William H. ("Bill") Pryor, Jr., the former Attorney General of Alabama who was involved in the political prosecution by the Bush administration of Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and who squeaked by U.S. Senate confirmation after being nominated by George W. Bush to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, appears to have a little something in his "closet." Pryor was confirmed by the Senate in 2005 in a 53-45 vote, his nomination being secured by a bi-partisan agreement between Senator John McCain and thirteen "Gang of 14" senators to force an "up or down" vote on three stalled Bush federal court nominees. Pryor was 43 when he was sworn in as a federal judge.
According to WMR sources in Alabama, Pryor, who now acts as a gatekeeper on the 11th Circuit for the Bush interests in Florida, Alabama, and other states in the jurisdiction, advertised himself during his younger days on a gay website called "Bad Puppy." There are also rumors from informed sources that naked photographs are held by some top Republicans and conservatives as an insurance policy that Pryor rules the correct way on issues on the 11th Circuit bench.
How many cases have received unlawful interference from Bill Pryor? Could they include the high-profile case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman? God only knows at this point, but if proven, such conduct would point to obstruction of justice, racketeering, conspiracy, and probably other crimes.
Aaron Schock
That brings us to Pryor's Senate confirmation hearing. It is standard for a federal nominee to be asked, under oath, if there is anything in his background that might embarrass him or the president who nominated him. Pryor has known the nude photos were public since at least September 1997, and our sources say he likely did not disclose their existence to FBI and Senate investigators.What are the possible implications of that? Here is how we answered that question in an earlier post:
Could Pryor face serious consequences if it is shown he made false statements to officials looking into his background? Based on the impeachment and removal of Louisiana federal judge Thomas Porteous in 2010, the answer might be yes.
One of the articles of impeachment against Porteous involved his failure to disclose information to investigators--and his false statements during pre-confirmation regarding any background information that might prove embarrassing to him and the president who nominated him, Bill Clinton.
Did Pryor withhold information that would embarrass him and George W. Bush? We don't have a certain answer at the moment, but it appears likely.
What kind of bad boy has Aaron Schock been? Here is how Yahoo! Finance describes it:
According to . . . the Associated Press and CNN, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened up a criminal investigation to determine whether Schock broke the law with some of his spending activities.
Among other things, Schock faces accusations that he accepted improper gifts, used campaign funds for personal purposes, improperly billed the government for travel expenses, and used taxpayer funds for lavish trips for his staff.
Our friend Billy Dennis, at the Peoria Pundit blog, lives in Schock's district and has written extensively about the Congressman's rise and fall. From a recent Pundit post, taking Peoria's mainstream media to task for pretty much giving Schock a free pass:
Aaron Schick was raised in Peoria. He graduated high school and college in Peoria. He represented Peoria on the school board, the State Legislature and in Congress. And Peoria’s one and only newspaper of record sat back and let the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, Politico and Blue Nation Review (and to a humble extent, Peoria Pundit) carry their f*cking water when it came to investigative pieces on Peoria’s Congressman.
It makes you want to vomit.
Speaking of vomit, that brings us back to Bill Pryor. With him, we have signs of obstruction of justice, racketeering, conspiracy, and lying to Congress. That doesn't count apparent Pryor activities I'm currently investigating. That includes my effort to unearth information about "Ernie," the mystery man who apparently helped bring the Pryor gay-porn photos to public light.
My research indicates Pryor has been involved in certain activities that would make Aaron Schock seem like Dudley Do-Right. Stay tuned for more.
