Democratic Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor will host a 2012 summer intern sent to him by Girls Gone Wild founder and Democratic donor Joe Francis, according to the Arkansas news site talkbusiness.net:
The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos, Joe Francis, has a cable reality show called "The Search for the Hottest Girl in America" (warning – explicit website linked) and is offering the winner of the contest a four-week internship with our very own Sen. Mark Pryor.
Francis purchased the "once-in-a-lifetime four-week internship on Capitol Hill" at a charitable auction and added it as part of the package for the winner of his bikini-clad reality show. …
Francis was quoted as saying. "When this opportunity presented itself, I felt there was no better way to empower women than to send the winner of Girls Gone Wild’s ‘Search for the Hottest Girl in America’ contest to Washington D.C. I truly believe that women, not men, should be making decisions for women in this country."
Update: Pryor's office denied the story to Buzzfeed:
"This release is a hoax," said Arkansas senator Mark Pryor's press secretary Lisa Ackerman. "This office does not sell, auction or donate internships."
Update II: In a Tweet Wednesday afternoon, Senator Pryor said the Girls Gone Wild story is a hoax and that his office does not "sell/donate internships."
Joe Francis was arrested in 2003 on more than 40 criminal charges for allegedly videotaping two 17-year old girls in "sexual situations" in Panama City, Florida. A judge dropped most of the charges against Francis, who paid a $1.6 million fine and performed community service after pleading guilty to crimes related to the incident.
Francis was charged in April 2007 on two federal counts of tax evasion.
Francis was sued in March 2008 by four women claiming that Francis filmed them while they were underage. The youngest plaintiff claims she was 13 when Francis’ company videotaped her.
Francis surrendered to Los Angeles police in August 2011 on misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, assault, and dissuading a witness from making a report.
Francis donated $4,000 to Democratic Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004.