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Pryor’s Office Asks FBI to Investigate Girls Gone Wild Claims

4 min read

The office of U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., issued statements Wednesday refuting a news release saying Girls Gone Wild owner Joe Francis would award an internship in Pryor’s office to the winner of a "Search for the Hottest Girl in America" contest.

GirlsGoneWild.com promoted the news release with an image of the U.S. Senate seal.

Pryor’s press secretary Lisa Ackerman first called the news release a "hoax." By the end of the day Wednesday, she described it as "fraud."

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s website, ArkansasOnline.com, and a political blog on TalkBusiness.net initially reported on the news release, apparently without questioning whether it was true. The Democrat-Gazette replaced the story and headline after Pryor’s office denied having auctioned off an intership. On TalkBusiness.net, conservative blogger Jason Tolbert added a link at the bottom of his original blog post leading to an Associated Press story about Pryor’s office’s reaction but did not change the headline, "Sen. Pryor’s Office to Get ‘Hottest Girl in America’ Winner for Intern."

The Girls Gone Wild news release said: "After making a charitable donation during a private auction this past weekend benefitting a Los Angeles based temple, Francis purchased a once-in-a-lifetime four-week internship on Capitol Hill working for a United States Senator and added it to the prize package for this season’s lucky winner. The internship will take place this summer in the office of U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D – Ark.) in Washington, D.C. 

"According to Francis, ‘At this time more than ever, women need strong representation in Washington. Women’s issues and rights have been completely assaulted by the Republican candidates during this year’s Republican primaries.’"

Both Pryor’s office and Democratic Party of Arkansas responded to reports of the contest.

"Our office does not sell, auction or donate internships. We believe someone outside Senator Pryor’s office has broken the law by fraudulently impersonating a U.S. Senator, fraudulently attempting to sell a government position and using the Senate seal without authorization. We have asked the FBI to fully investigate who is perpetrating this fraud against the senator and U.S. Senate," Ackerman stated.

Pryor’s office hires interns for five-week summer internships. Intern candidates must apply, submit a writing sample, transcript, recommendation letters and background information, according to Pryor’s office.

Candace Martin, communications and research director for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, released the following statement:

"These sort of conjured-up attacks are exactly the kind of rhetoric that has broken Washington and are constant distractions from addressing the issues facing our nation.  The porn industry has joined an Arkansas Republican activist in attempts at manufacturing outlandish attacks on Arkansas’s US Senator.

"Senator Pryor fought to prevent children accessing porn online and now the porn industry is striking back, with some Arkansas Republicans applauding the false antics of the porn industry. This is disgusting and I call on Arkansas Republicans to condemn these hoax stories immediately."

Girls Gone Wild’s news release announcing the internship remained online late Wednesday – hours after the senator’s denials.

BiddingForGood

Francis, who has made a fortune marketing videotapes featuring young women flashing their breasts, announced the internship would be part of the contest winner’s prize package after bidding on it during an online charity auction for a California temple last weekend. Francis said there was "no better way to empower women" than to award the internship.

BiddingForGood, the Cambridge, Mass.-based site where Francis said he bid on the item, said the internship was put up for auction to benefit a child learning center operated by the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and was sold for $2,500. The listing for the internship does not say who donated it. BiddingForGood spokeswoman Kaijsa Kurstin said it’s up to charities using the site to vet items they list for auction.

Bruce Berman, the temple’s development director, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

Pryor, Arkansas’ only Democratic senator, recently announced he planned to seek a third term in 2014. His office suggested the internship auction and subsequent announcement from Francis was an attack aimed at his re-election bid. Pryor, a former state attorney general, has backed legislation aimed at cutting access to porn sites including requiring special Internet domains, age-verification filters and a 25 percent excise tax on transactions over adult sites.

Pryor told reporters he believed the claim was a publicity stunt.

"At first, I think you kind of want to chuckle about something like that but really it’s serious," Pryor told The Associated Press. "Saying they’re doing all this stuff and that they’re going to be interning on Capitol Hill is just kind of out of left field."

Francis said Wednesday that his office had not contacted Pryor’s office directly about the internship. Francis told The Associated Press on Wednesday morning he believed the internship was legitimate, but later said he was unsure if he would still promote it as part of the prize package.

"I bought what was represented to me as a four week internship on a charity auction site," he said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

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