A former aide to presidential aspirant Pat Buchanan has blown the whistle on what he says are hypocritical election-law violations and rip-offs by the man who styles himself as the candidate of "the little guy." Stephen Marks, a former Republican operative who worked on Buchanan's campaign in 1996, charges in the September Penthouse that if one of his allegations were to prove correct, Buchanan campaign leaders could be liable for up to five years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000. Marks says he's uncovered misdeeds far more serious than those for which the Buchanan campaign has already paid fines to the Federal Election Commission.

The Penthouse article alleges that millions of dollars raised from small contributors were squandered as Buchanan's campaign-related organizations left a trail of repeated tax delinquencies, unpaid vendors and a laundry list of "immoral behavior" and other "self-dealing and incompetence."

Marks says Buchanan himself apparently played little role in the day to day operation of his campaign in 1996, and he lays the blame squarely on his sister, Bay Buchanan, who he says "profited very handsomely from the campaigns. " [Page 108; interview available with Stephen Marks]

A Nation of Child Speed Freaks: The Ritalin Epidemic

American doctors are drugging four million children in a "prescription epidemic" that is being sponsored by the big drug companies. Penthouse magazine investigative reporter Lisa Collier Cool rips the cover off a scandal involving the over-prescription of Ritalin and other drugs for hyperactive kids. The award-winning reporter says in a major piece in the September issue that "more and more parents are under pressure from schools - even day-care centers--to drug kids the staff finds troublesome." Her investigation suggests "we should look a lot harder at the potential dangers of putting millions of children on relatively untested psychoactive chemicals."

The diagnosis of A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder) is "practically a rubber stamp, and any small boy who is aggressive is almost certain to be diagnosed with it." Today, Cool reports that "about four million American kids -500,000 of them less than seven years old--and one million adults are being treated with the upper (Ritalin)." She also discovered that "more high-school seniors abuse Ritalin than take it legally for medical reasons."

One alarming finding: an expert interviewed by Cool asserts "there's no evidence that stimulants actually improve academic performance or have any long-term benefits. We put people in jail for selling kids drugs, and it should be a crime to medicate them with mind-altering drugs." [Page 162; interview available with Lisa Collier Cool]

Jenna Jameson: Multi-Millionaire Poses Nude for Penthouse

The 11-page pictorial of adult-film industry queen Jenna Jameson in the September issue of Penthouse is eye-popping for more than the expected reason. First, the spectacular photos of the busty Jameson by J. Stephen Hicks have been enhanced even further by computer expert Chris Balli to create extraordinary images. And, the text accompanying the photos reveals something else - Jameson is the first multi-millionaire ever to appear in seductive nude poses in Penthouse. Jameson discloses how she started her career as a strip club dancer and moved quickly into other, more lucrative business sectors of the adult industry. She dismisses claims that she and other adult industry workers are victimized: "The truth is that women are not victims here. I call the shots, I pick my own scripts, make my own schedule, choose the directors, and select which partners I'll work with. In this business, it's the girls who are on top!" [Page 73; interview available with Jenna Jameson]

James Bond Is Right: Russia's Mafia Has Replaced the Soviet

Communists

Recent James Bond movies and Russian-made films glorify the new Russian Mafia as fashionable rogues who have conveniently replaced the notorious Soviet Communists of old. The fictional characterization is actually true, according to a Russian-born woman who is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute for Social Research in New York. Nina L. Khrushcheva, granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev, a Ph.D. from Princeton, writes in the September Penthouse "Advise & Dissent" column that it is correct to assume that anyone possessing large amounts of cash in Russia is Mafia because there's no other way to make big money. In her Penthouse article, she tells of her own dramatic contacts with the Mafia, who used her as a translator and lavished expensive gifts on her as a reward. [Page 184; interview available with Nina Khrushcheva]

Also in September issue:

-- Pissing Off America: Penthouse Chooses "America's Piss Queen" -- How Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" Was Almost Stillborn -- Don Imus Is More Popular than Ever, But Is He on a Downhill