Colorado- Discussing the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) during his Newsradio 850 KOA show, host Jon Caldara falsely claimed that U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) “was running a prostitution ring out of his house.” Caldara backtracked later when a caller asked, “Do you want to stand by that statement?”

On the October 3 broadcast of his Newsradio 850 KOA show, host Jon Caldara falsely claimed — in the context of a discussion of the current scandal involving former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) — that U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) “was running a prostitution ring out of his house.” Later in the show, a caller challenged the claim, asking, “Do you want to stand by that statement?” Caldara backtracked, stating, “Actually, let’s be very careful about that. It was his boyfriend who was running an escort service around through his home, where Barney Frank was there.” In fact, a House Ethics Committee investigation determined Frank was unaware of the alleged “prostitution activities” and did not determine conclusively whether Frank’s apartment had even been used for the alleged activities.

Caldara was referring to a claim, reportedly made by Frank’s then-live-in partner Stephen Gobie to The Washington Times in August 1989, that Frank had permitted Gobie to operate a prostitution ring out of Frank’s Washington, D.C., apartment. Frank admitted he had paid Gobie for sex years earlier and then hired him as an assistant, but he denied any knowledge that Gobie allegedly ran a prostitution ring out of Frank’s apartment. As Media Matters for America has noted, an investigation by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (known as the Ethics Committee) cleared Frank of allegations that he had any knowledge of the alleged prostitution ring. The July 20, 1990, CSOC report concluded (Page 18):

Based upon information obtained under subpoena and sworn testimony, the Committee concludes that the weight of the evidence indicates that Representative Frank did not have either prior or concomitant knowledge of prostitution activities involving third parties alleged to have taken place in his apartment. … Representative Frank’s landlords … submitted sworn testimony contradicting Mr. Gobie’s assertion. … The Committee, therefore, further concludes that no further action is warranted.

The report noted that Gobie himself had made the claim that Gobie had conducted a prostitution ring, and that evidence in support of the allegation was contradicted by sworn third-party testimony and by other evidence Gobie provided. The report concluded “with Respect to the Credibility of Stephen L. Gobie” that:

While much has been said, written, and speculated with respect to Representative Barney Frank’s relationship with Stephen L. Gobie, it is clear that most, if not all, of such media attention has been the product of assertions made by Mr. Gobie. As has been discussed in detail in prior sections of this Report, the Committee went to great lengths in seeking testimony or other information relevant to the assertions. In numerous instances where an assertion made by Mr. Gobie (either publicly or during his Committee deposition) was investigated for accuracy, the assertion was contradicted by third-party sworn testimony or other evidence of Mr. Gobie himself (Page 37).

From the October 3 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA’s The Jon Caldara Show:

CALLER: A sex crime is a sex crime. I mean, that’s pretty serious stuff —

CALDARA: It is pretty serious stuff. But you know what else is serious —

CALLER: And I think this guy will try to feel his way out of it. I’m just so ashamed by the Republican Party.

CALDARA: But it’s not the Republican Party! This is one idiot who has committed a crime, did something completely inappropriate, obviously has a problem, obviously has some sickness. That doesn’t mean the whole movement is bad. That doesn’t mean that all Republicans are bad.

CALLER: Well, I don’t know if I would agree with that. I mean, you know, the way that I’ve been following what’s been going on in terms of, you know, just so many different things that we’ve just been lied to about. I mean, it’s getting to the point where I don’t know what to believe, and obviously there were many other Republicans that knew that this guy was gay — I didn’t know he was gay until now. I didn’t know this guy —

CALDARA: I imagine nobody knew he was gay until now.

CALLER: — was molesting 14-year-old boys.

CALDARA: Does that matter?

CALLER: No, but there was — there have been a couple of people said that they’ve known this guy was gay for years.

CALDARA: It is not against the law to be gay! Barney Franks [sic] was running a prostitution ring out of his house and voters elected him.

CALDARA: [CALLER], you’re on Newsradio 850 KOA.

CALLER: Thank you. I get the sense the Republican Party is imploding, and one example is what you just recently said about 20 minutes ago — that Barney Frank was running a prostitution ring out of his apartment. Do you want to stand by that statement?

CALDARA: Actually, let’s be very careful about that. It was his boyfriend who was running an escort service around through his home, where Barney Frank was there.

CALLER: OK, good. I’m glad you corrected that.