by Jon Rappaport
Illegal? Immoral? Insane?
Much is being made of a “buried, suddenly removed” 2004 Washington Post article about Podesta and photos of naked teenagers on his walls at home.
First of all, the article is about Tony Podesta, not John Podesta. John is Hillary’s campaign chairman. Tony is John’s brother. Tony is also a political mover and shaker in Washington.
The WaPo article begins this way:
Married, With Art
Tony and Heather Podesta Are a Study in Power Collecting
By Jessica Dawson
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, September 23, 2004; Page C01
“The collection started almost by accident. It was 1980, and Tony Podesta was bidding adieu to co-workers from Sen. Ted Kennedy’s just-failed bid for the presidential nomination. On their way out the door, staff members were handed whatever goodies remained — among them a tube of limited-edition prints donated to the campaign by the likes of Warhol and Rauschenberg.”
“A quarter-century later, those prints are history, but Podesta is counted among the nation’s most important contemporary art collectors. Inside the elite Chelsea galleries, he and his wife, Heather, are gossiped about, deferred to and ushered toward the choicest works. All the art stars know their names.”
Skipping down, we get to this:
“Political candidates eagerly tap [Tony] Podesta’s mojo, too: He spearheaded President Clinton’s successful 1996 Pennsylvania campaign, and Sen. John Kerry has hired him to work the same magic for him in the Keystone State this year [2004]. [Wife] Heather, 26 years his junior and several shades greener, carved a career aiding Reps. Robert Matsui and Earl Pomeroy; she joined Blank Rome’s law and government relations firm this spring.”
Tony has been very active politically, on behalf of Democrats.
The WaPo article eventually presents a shocker:
“’At political events [at Tony’s home], there’s an inevitable awkwardness’, former Clinton administration official Sally Katzen said at a Women’s Campaign Fund dinner at the Podestas’ home this summer. ‘The art is an ice-breaker. It puts people at ease’.”
“Not always. Folks attending a house tour in the Lake Barcroft neighborhood in Falls Church earlier this year got an eyeful when they walked into a bedroom at the Podesta residence hung with multiple color pictures by Katy Grannan, a photographer known for documentary-style pictures of naked teenagers in their parents’ suburban homes.”
“’They were horrified’, Heather recalls, a grin spreading across her face.”
—end of WaPo excerpt—
Tony Podesta: big-time art collector and patron of the arts; big-time mover and shaker in Washington; big-time campaign consultant for Democratic candidates; pictures of naked teenagers on his walls.
Does anyone stop to ask how permission was obtained to shoot those photos in the first place? And then to print them, sell them, show them publicly? The parents of the children gave their consent? The kids gave their consent? On what basis does anyone allow teenagers to make that kind of decision for themselves—or think that teenagers have the capacity to make such a decision? Technically, the whole operation may fall within the law (although I don’t see how), but on every other level it’s insane. And it’s child endangerment.
And a major political operative in Washington, Tony Podesta, sees no problem with it. He has the photos on his walls at home. He displays them for his Washington insider pals and donors. They may blush, but they look. And none of them raises a public objection. They keep their mouths shut, because this is Tony Podesta, and he’s a power player.
In the sewer called Washington DC.