Four men are facing charges of extortion in Atlantic City, N.J., on suspicion of luring a city councilman to a motel and secretly taping him having sex with a prostitute.
The scandal took place in 2006, when three brothers and their friend paid Kristyn Haino, a prostitute, to lure Councilman Eugene Robinson to a motel, where the councilman was filmed receiving oral sex. Craig Callaway, a former Atlantic City Council president, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit invasion of privacy. Callaway admitted that the tape was part of a plot to force Robinson to resign as councilman.’
Callaway has been described as the leader of a rogue grassroots political organization where the members practice confrontational politics.’ Robinson, at the time of the videotaping, was a 64-year-old divorc’eacute;e working part-time as a minister. About two weeks after the encounter, a man showed Robinson the video on a laptop. He was told the tape would be made public if he didn’t resign.
Robinson does not deny the contents of the tape, but he does deny paying the woman for her services. In regards to the tape, he says the money he gave her was to get a drink from one of the vending machines in the motel.
This video offers an inside look at the down-and-dirty politics that have plagued Atlantic City.
Callaway’s convictions on bribery and extortion charges, among others, are examples of the corrupt and manipulative political style that has thwarted the city’s legitimate government for years. Jury selection began Sept. 29, and the second phase began Monday, with both sides removing jurors they do not want to serve.’
However, before jury selection began, both the prosecution and the defense had to come to an agreement on how to ask potential jurors if they were OK with watching a 15-minute sex tape of Robinson receiving oral sex. It was decided that the video will be described as footage of Robinson receiving oral sex from an adult female. Other descriptions were thrown out, including ‘a minister obtaining oral sex from a prostitute.’
While the latter description is accurate, it implies that Robinson knew Haino was a prostitute, which his lawyers will argue that he didn’t.
By asking people about it, the lawyers have made the tape taboo. Even before watching it, people will have specific feelings about it jeopardizing the impartiality that our justice system is based on.’
Much of the information currently known has yet to be confirmed, but what the Callaway brothers did was obviously immoral. They attempted to oust a city official who they disagreed with by extorting him. Such a trial only blurs the line between a politician’s personal and political life.
With the Houston mayoral elections looming less than a month away, readers should remember to evaluate political candidates based on their political platforms, not their personal lives.
