Media Matters

NATIONAL ENQUIRER ACCUSES RUSH OF 'DRUG ABUSE'

N.Y. Daily News Splashes Supermarket Tabloid's Attacks On Talk Host

One day after the national press hammered Rush Limbaugh for his comment
that a black star football player is overrated, the National Enquirer
(http://www.nationalenquirer.com/ and New York Daily News
(http://www.nydailynews.com/ splashed today's front pages with allegations
radio's top talker has abused drugs.

Limbaugh, 52, the most listened-to radio talk-show host in history,
syndicated in more than 650 markets worldwide, is under investigation for
allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market
drug ring, the Enquirer said, according to the Daily News.

Rush Limbaugh

He reportedly was turned in by his former housekeeper, Wilma Cline, 42, who
said the radio commentator went through detox twice and was addicted to the
highly potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone. On his
website (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com) this morning, Limbaugh issued the
following statement: "I am unaware of any investigation by any authorities
involving me. No governmental representative has contacted me directly or
indirectly. If my assistance is required in the future, I will, of course,
cooperate fully."

Limbaugh gave the keynote address this morning at the National Association
of Broadcasters
(http://www.nab.org/conventions/radioshow/2003/SessionDetail.asp?id=1201715)
annual convention in Philadelphia. A guest is hosting his program today.

Meanwhile, Limbaugh insisted during his show yesterday there was "no racist
intent whatsoever" in his comment that the media have overrated
Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb because they want to see a black
quarterback succeed, reported the Associated Press.

Nevertheless, as a result of the media furor, late last night Limbaugh
resigned from his position on ESPN's NFL pre-game show, on which he had
made the controversial remark.

Cline said she turned in information about Limbaugh and others to
prosecutors four years after the drug deals began, the Enquirer reported.
The exchanges included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.

For her last two deliveries to Limbaugh, she said, authorities gave her a
wire, and she handed in the tapes.

The Enquirer said it obtained from Cline e-mails from Limbaugh and a ledger
documenting her purchase of 4,350 pills in one 47-day period.

"There were times when I worried," Cline told the tabloid. "All these pills
are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

The Daily News reported it independently confirmed Limbaugh is under
investigation, but the agency running the probe, the Palm Beach County
state attorney's office, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.

The Associated Press, citing law-enforcement sources who requested
anonymity, also said it confirmed an investigation is underway.

The Daily News was unable to reach Cline for comment but reported her
lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."

The New York paper contacted Limbaugh's lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary,
but they refused comment, adding any "medical information" about the radio
commentator was private and not newsworthy.

Limbaugh was traveling and had no comment, the lawyers said, according to
the Daily News.

Housekeeper's story

Cline said she began supplying Limbaugh with drugs about nine months after
he hired her as a housekeeper at his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion in 1998, the
Enquirer reported. After a casual conversation in which Limbaugh learned
her husband had been taking hydrocodone 750, the radio commentator asked,
to her "astonishment," if she "could spare a couple of them."

She began supplying Limbaugh with 30 of her husband's pills per month, the
Enquirer said. But in early 1999, the doctor quit renewing the
prescription, and Limbaugh became enraged.

"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you
do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" the housekeeper told
the Enquirer.

Cline said she found a new supplier for Limbaugh and worked out a way to
hide the pills from his wife, Marta, by stashing them under his mattress.

The arrangement continued for several months until Limbaugh announced to
her he no longer needed the pills and was going to New York for detox.

However, one month later, he asked her for hydrocodone, then OxyContin,
because his left ear was hurting. Limbaugh announced in October 2001 he was
getting increasingly deaf
(http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24842) - unable
to hear callers, radio, television or music. Later, he was diagnosed with
autoimmune ear disease and underwent cochlear implant surgery to correct it.

Cline quit her housekeeper job in July 2001 but continued making the
deliveries. She said, however, Limbaugh became increasingly paranoid and
even patted her down to make sure she had no recording devices.

Limbaugh went to New York for detox again in June 2002 and returned
worried, Cline indicated.

"I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she told the Enquirer.
"He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."

Cline said she contacted prosecutors shortly after receiving a payoff of
$80,000 Limbaugh owed her, plus another $120,000. She claims Limbaugh asked
her to destroy the computer containing his e-mails.

A May 2002 e-mail urged Cline to get more "little blues," or OxyContin.

"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it
takes," the e-mail reads, according to the Enquirer. "But I will try and
cut down to help out."