Herman Cain Should Be Prosecuted Under the Mann Act

As mentioned in my immediately preceding post, the White-Slave Traffic Act (aka the Mann Act) has been putting men in prison for more than 100 years.  Since 1994, the law has read thus:

TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I. CRIMES
CHAPTER 117. TRANSPORTATION FOR ILLEGAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND
RELATED CRIMES @ 2421.

Transportation generally
Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

One fellow who should have been prosecuted under the White-Slave Traffic Act is former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.  Temeka Rachelle Lewis, who was sentenced to one year of probation for her role as a booking agent for the Emperor's Club prostitution ring, made the arrangements for Governor Spitzer (aka Client 9) to have a sexual encounter with Ashley Dupré (professionally known as "Kristen") on the day before Valentine's Day, 2008, for $4300.  From transcripts of wiretapped calls between Miss Lewis and Miss Dupré :

 ...At approximately 4:03 p.m., LEWIS received a call from "Kristen." During the call, "Kristen" said that she had heard the message, and that was fine. LEWIS and "Kristen" then discussed the time that "Kristen" would take the train from New York to Washington, D.C. LEWIS told "Kristen" that there was a 5:39 p.m. train that arrived at 9:00 p.m., and that "Kristen" would be taking the train out of Penn Station.

LEWIS confirmed that Client-9 would be paying for everything - train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time, and hotel...

Very clearly Mr. Spitzer knew that he was transporting "Kristen" in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution.  It should have been an easy conviction. However, Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced on 8 November, 2008, that he would not seek criminal charges Mr. Spitzer:

...ELIOT SPITZER has acknowledged to this Office that he was a client of, and made payments to, the Emperors Club VIP.  Our investigation has shown that on multiple occasions, Mr. SPITZER arranged for women to travel from one state to another state to engage in prostitution. After a thorough investigation, this Office has uncovered no evidence of misuse of public or campaign funds. In addition, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to bring charges against Mr. SPITZER for any offense relating to the withdrawal of funds for, and his payments to, the Emperors Club VIP.

In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this Office, as well as Mr. SPITZER's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.

"Insufficient evidence?"  "Longstanding practice of this Office?"  What a putz. Other Americans are routinely sentenced to death with a heck of a lot less evidence than that.  Mr. Garcia couldn't even be bothered to put Mr. Spitzer away for five years?  Possibly Mr. Spitzer's high-powered legal team succeeded in softening Mr. Garcia's heart.  Maybe Mr. Garcia thought that Mr. Spitzer was just too pretty, too popular, or too well connected to send to prison.  Or, as Mr. Spitzer had expertise in money-laundering, and quite a LOT of money at his disposal, a substantial bribe might have done the trick.  Or, perhaps Mr. Spitzer's high-powered legal team had some information that Mr. Garcia was also cavorting with prostitutes, and transporting them across state lines, and it would have been highly inconvenient for Mr. Garcia if such information had come to light.  We'll never know for sure.  All we'll ever know is that prisons were never built for the wealthy and influential.  To think that this fellow was not only proud to have made what he did a felony in New York,

I’m proud that we did sign that human-trafficking law, that was the right thing to do, it is important. It is something I believed in then, and believe in now.

but was both proud and delighted to have gotten away with it.

The decision was made based upon the standards set by the Department of Justice and made by the U.S. attorney’s office.  They looked at the office and dealt with me the way they dealt with everyone else in my situation.

Oh really?  Here is what Kristin Davis, who had procured prostitutes for Mr. Spitzer on various occasions, had to say:

I spent four months in Rikers Island from which I returned penniless, homeless, and forced to take sex offender classes for five months with pedophiles and perverts, while he returned to his wife in his 5th Ave. high rise without ever being fingerprinted, mug shot, remanded, or charged with a crime under the very law he signed.

A few years in a federal penitentiary, followed by a year of sex-offender classes with pedophiles and perverts, would have done Mr. Spitzer a world of good, and saved other women and girls from becoming his victims.  Assuming a statute of limitations of five years for Mann Act violations, Mr. Spitzer would now be safe from prosecution, assuming that he has behaved himself since then (which seems highly unlikely, given his apparent addiction).  Herman Cain, the colorful presidential candidate, still isn't out of the woods.

 Mr. Cain's candidacy was quite a hoot: the "9-9-9" Tax Plan (which came directly from the Sim City computer game, and which enchanted Republicans because of the prospects of raising taxes sharply for the poor while drastically cutting taxes for the rich);  his proposal to electrocute Mexicans;  his claim to be the half-brother of Charles and David Koch;

and, his charming recital of poetry from a children's Pokémon movie.

For a brief time, the Republicans allowed Mr. Cain to be the front-runner for the Republican nomination, so that they could advance the claim that Republicans weren't racists.

 Mr. Cain's campaign started falling apart when various White women stated that he had molested them sexually.  His campaign ended when Ginger White came forward, on Fox News, with the admission that she had served as Mr. Cain's concubine for the previous 13 years.

With that, Mr. Cain's candidacy was finished, and the Republican Party was done with him.  Mr. Cain couldn't even get any air time on Fox News.  He had to go to Wolf Blitzer on CNN to give his side of the story.

From the Fox News show:

...Miss White says she met Herman Cain in the late 90s in Louisville, Kentucky, when as president of the National Restaurant Association, he made a presentation. She was impressed. She says they shared drinks afterwards and he invited her back to his hotel room.

“’I’d like to see you again,’” White said Cain told her. “’You are beautiful to me, and I would love for us to continue this friendship.’”

She says in his hotel room, he pulled out a calendar and invited her to meet him in Palm Springs. She accepted, and she says the affair began....

...Ms. White says during the next 13 years, he would fly her to cities where he was speaking and he lavished her with gifts....

According to Georgia State Law:

2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 16 - CRIMES AND OFFENSES
CHAPTER 6 - SEXUAL OFFENSES
§ 16-6-19 - Adultery

A married person commits the offense of adultery when he voluntarily has sexual intercourse with a person other than his spouse and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.

Mr. Cain perpetrated the criminal offense of adultery--a misdemeanor in his home state of Georgia.  But, by bringing Miss White to other states for some adultery, Mr. Cain committed a felony offense under the White-Slave Traffic Act: "Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate commerce,...with intent that such individual engage in...any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years."  It doesn't matter whether the criminal offense was a misdemeanor in one's home state: once you bring a person to another state for some illegal sexual activity, it becomes a federal felony.

Moreover, Mr. Cain brought Miss White to Florida, where The Law states:

798.01 Living in open adultery.—Whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Where either of the parties living in an open state of adultery is married, both parties so living shall be deemed to be guilty of the offense provided for in this section.

798.02 Lewd and lascivious behavior.—If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or if any man or woman, married or unmarried, engages in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

The laws seem odd, given Florida's status as a major tourist destination, and the penchant of certain tourists to indulge in lewd and lascivious behavior whilst on vacation in the state.  Still, laws must be obeyed, and transgressors punished.  Otherwise, what would be the point of having any laws at all?  Writing a bunch of laws, and only enforcing the ones that certain government officials want to enforce, is an uncivilized, uncouth, and half-assed way of proceeding.  Either enforce all laws equally, or don't have any laws at all.

Mr. Cain formally announced his candidacy on November 14, 2011.  According to Miss White, Mr. Cain dismissed her as his concubine two months prior to the announcement--which would give the federal government until September, 2016 (at the latest) to launch its prosecution. If President Obama's Department of "Justice" were neither completely corrupt nor utterly incompetent, then Mr. Cain would have been toast by now.  How else are we to protect the women and girls of America from this sexual predator and brazen philanderer?  Not to mention our a massive prison-industrial complex that continually requires more inmates.

We need to consign Mr. Cain to federal prison before that statute of limitations passes, and it is too late.  He'll make for quite a trophy, and his imprisonment will serve as a shining example to other would-be philanderers and adulterers.  Plus, Mr. Cain ought to find several years in a federal penitentiary to be a humbling experience, and no-one is in greater need of humbling right now than Herman Cain himself.