If You Crossed David Vitter with Larry Craig, What Would You Get? Meet Joey DiFatta

Posted by Howie Klein at 2:20 PM on October 5, 2007.

This post, written by Howie Klein, originally appeared on Down With Tyranny!

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Another Republican elected official-- a pal of David Diapers Vitter no less-- caught toe-tappin' in the boys room! And he wants wanted to be a state senator too! Yesterday's Times-Picayune painted another dismal picture of another Republican pervert who trawls from public restroom to public restroom looking for... love? Well, looking for something. Joey DiFatta is the chairman of St. Bernard Parish Council and a prominent Republican leader (until 2004 on the GOP state party Executive Committee). He just withdrew from his state senate race, after his arrests for lewd behavior in a public restroom were made public.

DiFatta, like Larry Craig, denies his toilet toe tappin' was a gay signal. Maybe it's a Republican signal that normal people just don't know about. (Another coincidence: he decided to pull out of the race because of "elevated enzyme levels," not because his toilet trawling activities have been made public. His first summons was for a simple Peeping Tom incident in a Mervyn's at a mall in Kenner. "The report states that DiFatta watched a man use the bathroom while peering through a hole in a bathroom stall. The man held DiFatta until police arrived, at which time he was issued the misdemeanor summons and ordered to appear in court."

DiFatta got away with it and eventually upped the ante, moving from the Mervyn's to a Dillard's.

In the second incident, Jefferson Parish deputies working an undercover detail in a men's bathroom at Dillard's at Lakeside Shopping Center in March 2000 stopped DiFatta after he indicated a desire to engage in sex with an undercover deputy in an adjoining bathroom stall, according to an interoffice memorandum written by Sgt. Keith Conley, one of the deputies involved in the investigation.

The report said DiFatta slid his foot into the deputy's stall and tapped the deputy's foot. In the report, Conley noted that such activity is common among men to indicate a willingness to participate in sex.

The deputy inside the stall, Detective Wayne Couvillion, responded by tapping his foot, and DiFatta reached under the partition and began to rub the deputy's leg, the report states.

The detective asked DiFatta, "What do you want?" according to the report, and he replied, "I want to play with you."

DiFatta also used a hand signal to indicate that he wanted to engage in sex and used language that indicated the same, according to the report. Conley, who is now the Kenner city attorney, confirmed the report's authenticity Thursday.

The incident did not culminate in an arrest because the deputy in the bathroom with DiFatta terminated the investigation after several children entered the bathroom, the report states. Conley noted in the report that DiFatta appeared well-versed and comfortable with the routine.

Conley wrote that had the investigation been allowed to continue, it likely would have concluded in DiFatta's arrest on obscenity charges, including a possible attempted crime against nature.

Conley confronted DiFatta outside the bathroom, and DiFatta apologized and said he would not return, according to the report. DiFatta also said he has a problem with such behavior and had sought counseling for the addiction in the past, the report states.

DiFatta has 2 children and several grandchildren. His campaign material mentions the children and grandchildren by name but not a word about a wife. What makes closet cases gravitate to the GOP?

Tagged as: vitter, republican hypocrisy, craig, gay republicans, difatta, republican sex defense sp

Howie Klein is the creator of the blog Down With Tyranny!