Ben Quayle admits writing for 'Dirty Scottsdale' Web site

By Matt DeLong

After initially denying the allegations, Arizona House candidate Ben Quayle (R), son of former vice president Dan Quayle, admitted on Tuesday that he used to post comments on a Web site called "Dirty Scottsdale" several years ago, Politico reports.

The site's founder, Hooman Karamian, alleged in a Monday post on TheDirty that Quayle was "one of the original contributors" to the site, which featured sexy photos of women and "chronicled the city's clubs and nightlife and [was] the predecessor to the popular gossip website TheDirty.com."

Karamian said Quayle posted under the name "Brock Landers," an apparent reference to the fictional sidekick to porn star Dirk Diggler in the film "Boogie Nights." Quayle had a featured section on the site, Karamian said, called "Brock's Chick," in which he sought to "find the hottest chick in Scottsdale." He added that "Without Ben, there would be no TheDirty.com." Quayle acknowledged Tuesday that he did contribute to the site in an interview with Phoenix's 12 News.

"I just posted comments to try to drive some traffic," [Quayle] said. "What kind of comments?" the reporter asked. "This is four years ago," Quayle replied. "This is hilarious this is being brought up. ... This is a smear. This is a smear on me from a smear website being pushed by a smear campaign."

Quayle initially told Politico on Tuesday that he "was not involved in the site." He admitted that he and Karamian know each other, and he helped Karamian find an intellectual property lawyer when the site was created, but he said that was the extent of his involvement with the site.

The founder of an Arizona-based investment firm, Quayle is one of 10 Republicans running to replace retiring Rep. John Shadegg in Arizona's 3rd Congressional District. His campaign Web site bills him as a "conservative Republican." One of the candidate's mailers, showing Quayle with two young girls, drew some attention earlier this month when it was revealed that the girls were Quayle's nieces. He is married but childless. In a statement to knock down criticism that he was trying to give the impression that he is a family man, Quayle's campaign said:

"We are presenting Ben as a pro-family candidate because he is a pro-family candidate," Moley said. "We are presenting him as a traditional-values candidate because he is a traditional values candidate."

As Politico notes, Quayle has some very high-profile Republican backers, including former President George H.W. Bush, who hosted a fundraiser in May for the candidate at his Houston home.



Update: Coincidentally, Quayle is up with a new campaign spot today in which he says he was "raised right" and President Obama is "the worst president in history."