In an exclusive interview with AC, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst finally laid to rest the rumors that embroiled the most powerful man in the Capitol in a perfect storm of controversy. Dewhurst went on record to describe a whisper campaign orchestrated by political enemies that reached a full-blown roar once it hit the pages of an Austin daily newspaper. "There's lies, damned lies, and there's the tabloid trash that is sadly too indicative of the current media," said Dewhurst, characterizing the allegations swishing around him as "uncorroborated gobbledygook."

"It's disheartening that an activist publisher would use the rumor mill's grist to sell papers," said Dewhurst. "The irony is, these disgusting rumors about my personal life were all but forgotten until that daily paper reprinted them in an effort to boost their bottom line. I'm grateful to AC for letting me remind their readers that this shameful, malicious falsehood is utterly untrue."

Timeline: The Scandal That Wasn't

March 28: The lieutenant governor, in an AC exclusive, vehemently decries the "politics of personal destruction."

Feb. 3: In the pages of an Austin daily's entertainment section ran the allegations surrounding Dewhurst. "It's telling that this ran alongside the 'Jumble,'" said Dewhurst, "because that's what this was: a jumble of lies and conjecture."

Late Jan. to Feb.: Across the blogosphere, rumors fly fast and furious about the bachelor's life. "These 'bloggers' no one had heard of, like BurntOrangeReport.com, capitalizing on another's misfortune in an attempt at publicity is despicable," intoned Dewhurst.

Jan. 11: The Legislature's first day in session softly rumbles with the dull roar of rumor and vendetta. "It saddens me that we could've nipped this in the bud," mourned AC Editor Louis Black, "by helping Dewhurst deny these rumors to the world before anyone ever heard them."