The Detroit Free Press reports:

Police went to the hotel after a detective working on Internet-based prostitution at hotels in the city came across a solicitation for sex on a Web site, backdoor.com. Plainclothes detectives went to the hotel and set up a surveillance and watched Athans drive up, go inside and then leave about 15 minutes later.

Athans is a radio producer who's spent the past several years trying to launch liberal talk shows that could counter popular conservative radio programming.

Before starting his current firm TalkUSA Radio in 2006, Athans was the head of syndicated programming at Air America, the liberal network that declared bankruptcy that year. TalkUSA launched one syndicated talk show last year.

Athans has strong ties to Democratic Party officials and liberal activists; Sen. Hillary Clinton publicly acknowledged him during her speech in Detroit last month.

Is there something in the water?  You know, between Spitzer, Mr. Athans here and the Governor's new insurance bureaucrat Butch Hollowell I'm starting to notice a perverse sorta pattern.

I don't very much care for Senator Stabenow or her politics but I sincerely wish her the best during what must now be one of the most difficult periods of her life.