Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney \nWASHINGTON - A New York City congresswoman is roasting the Queens County District Attorney, because he hasn't yet prosecuted or even charged a sex tour operator she claims sets Americans up with young Asian prostitutes - while the DA's office says there's no firm evidence that the company has committed any crime in New York.
The New York Daily News says Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, whose district covers Manhattan and Queens, is "bothered" by Queens DA Richard Brown's refusal to bring charges against the owner of Big Apple Oriental Tours, based in Bellerose, a small community adjacent to Jamaica in Queens. "It's an embarrassment to New York and federal law," she tells the paper.
The paper says Maloney scheduled a Tuesday press conference to release a letter demanding Brown explain why he hasn't yet moved to prosecute Big Apple Oriental Tours or its co-owner, Norman Barabash.
"Big Apple Oriental Tours' promotional materials make it clear that money is being exchanged for the company of women and strongly suggest that sex is part of the transaction," Maloney claims in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News.
Maloney, feminist leader Gloria Steinem, and leaders of Equality Now are joining in the flap, the paper says "This is clearly promotion of prostitution," Steinem tells the paper. "We want to call attention to a crime that ... is not being prosecuted."
Brown's spokeswoman, Mary de Bourbon, tells the paper he's been investigating Big Apple Oriental Tours since 1997, with help from the U.S. Justice Department, but his office has been unable to prove a crime was committed in New York itself. Equality Now tells the News the Philippines once denied the company's owners visas "because of their activities."
Barabash refused comment when the paper contacted him. But Big Apple co-owner Doug Allen, who lives in Poughkeepsie (two hours north of New York City), blasted Maloney and the other critics as a "feminazi hate group," using the pun popularized by radio host Rush Limbaugh, while defending Big Apple for offering legitimate nightlife tours.
"Maybe there are prostitutes," he tells the News, "but is it illegal to introduce people to people now?"
