Donaldson's Digits: Wrong Number

THE GOOD NEPHEW Donaldson

(Photo: Getty Images)Rob Capriccioso, a Washington, D.C., blogger and sometime (now former) RadarOnline.com freelancer, reported on his own blog, bigheaddc.com, last evening that Sam Donaldson's phone number appears on the D.C. Madam's supposed client list—the record of outgoing phone calls that Deborah Jean Palfrey made while operating the high-end-hooker operation that serviced Sen. David Vitter and other D.C. potentates. (RadarOnline.com mentioned the Bigheaddc story here.)What he didn't report is that Palfrey told him, repeatedly, in no uncertain terms, that her single telephone call to Donaldson had nothing to do with prostitution.

Capriccioso found out about Donaldson's involvement from RadarOnline.com. We were looking into the Donaldson rumor and stupidly asked Capriccioso, who claimed to have a relationship with Palfrey, to talk to her about it. We decided not to pursue the item for reasons explained below, so he picked it up for himself without so much as a "thank you" or heads-up.