as for stephanie birkitt, not a peep from her. we have reached out to her. we haven't heard back. she has an open invitation to tell her side of the story right here on "issues." meanwhile, stephanie's grandmother did talk to "the new york post." grandmama no fan of joe halderman and it was quote, stupid for stephanie to go out with him. she calls joe a quote, mistake. you think? grandma's not the only woman speaking out. the national organization for women is lashing out at david letterman's habit of going to the office well to wet his whistle, saying it raises abuse of power issues that can create a hostile work environment. we'll talk about it. tonight's big issue, is sex at work okay and if so, when? straight out to my fantastic panel. lisa bloom, cnn legal analyst. wendy murphy, former prosecutor, author of "and justice for some" and professor at new england school of law. stacy kaiser, psychotherapist and the lone male on the panel, carlos diaz. i know you can handle us. >> i don't like my odds here. i'm not going to make any comments about sex in the workplace, okay? becaus

she's a pretty former "late show" staffer, stephanie birk t birkitt.ck out the quotes about the espn chick. "after espn talking head steve phillips dumped his portly production-assistant lover." and the "post" also called brooke schlubby. dr. dale archer, is there some kind of underlying sexism here in the sense that if you're ugly or perceived to be not attractive and you do something like this you get taken to task but if you're cute and you do something like this as a female it's perceived more as, you know, a fun anecdote and gossip? >> no. i think that in her case there are e-mails -- >> who? which her? >> right. the brooke hundley case. she basically was on record saying she was going to do whatever it took to further her career in the media. so i think that she is being portrayed in this case as a gold digger using him in order to try to make it to the top in the media world. and when that did not work, of course, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. >> see, i think that's sexist. because this guy has a track record. and i'm going to go to st

worldwide pants says while stephanie birkitt is on paid administration leave, she is not banned from studio. >> still to come this afternoon, embattled governor sford in the spotlight again, this time for what happened during a traffic stop. >>> and harry connick jr. talks about the guest appearance that put him in an awkward position. we'll show you what happened there. >>> he created a washington institution more than 50 years ago. today the city is mourning the loss of the founder of ben's chili bowl. ben ali died last night after a long illness. his u street restaurant opened back in 1958 and is famous for its half smoke and its high profile clientele. celebrities like ella fitzgerald, bill cosby a favorite, even president barack obama have all come through the doors to eat there. ben ali was 82 years old. we'll have much more on his life cosurháonight at 5:00.ñr >> harry connick jr. wanq apology after his guest appearance on an australian talent show, where one group performed in black face. the show aired last night on austral australia's channel 9 network. a groupf doctors cal

"issues" reached out to stephanie for birkitt for comment but did not hear back before a deadline. stephanie is of course invited on this program anytime to share her side of the story and i have to remind you, she has not been accused of any wrongdoing. but again, could this explosive diary have driven the "48 hours" producer to allegedly seek revenge against his perceived rival? if it's true does it go to possible motive? as for letterman, an awkward apology on his cbs show last night. >> i would just like to set the record straight, no, i'm not having sex with these women, those episodes are in the past. so my apologies to subjecting thom that vulnerability and being a brood being beat nen humiliated. i'm terribly sorry they put the snaf that position, inadvertently i just wasn't thinking ahead. >> remind ourselves dave is a crime victim here. let's not forget that, but are his comments making matters worse for himself? should letterman now sa hey, i'm done talking about this, people. i've said my peace. or is he in some kind of no-win situation, damned if he talks it, damned if

as for stephanie birkitt, not a peep from her. we have reached out to her. we haven't heard back. she has an open invitation to tell her side of the story right here on "issues." meanwhile, stephanie's grandmother did talk to "the new york post." grandmama no fan of joe halderman and it was quote, stupid for stephanie to go out with him. she calls joe a quote, mistake. you think? grandma's not the only woman speaking out of the national organization for women is lashing out at david letterman's habit of going to the office well to wet his whistle, saying it raises abuse of power issues that can create a hostile work environment. we'll talk about it. tonight's big issue is sex at work okay and if so, when? straight out to my fantastic panel. lisa bloom, cnn legal analyst. wendy murphy, former prosecutor, author of "and justice for some" and professor at new england school of law. stacy kaiser, psycho therapist and the lone male on the panel, carlos diaz. i know you can handle us. >> i don't like my odds here. i'm not going to make any comments about sex in the workplace, okay? beca

remains unclear but public documents show he lived with one of letterman's long-time assistants stephanie birkitt, until last august. it's unknown just how many staffers letterman was involved but reports say the liaisons took place before was married and before the birth of sisk son harry in 2003. halderman has been divorced twice and has two children with his second wife and three stepchildren. according to divorce paps as of may 2004 halderman was required to pay $6,800 in child support and alimony while the investigation continues the scandal will likely keep letterman in the spotlight. ratings increased 38% on thursday from the same night a week ago, and several major advertisers announced they are sticking by letterman. they say they're more interested in his improved ratings than his personal life. right now, after years of chasing leno, letterman is the king of late night, interesting to see what happened. >> which complicates things for cbs in terms of punishment. thank you. >>> coming up later in the show you'll be talking about the topic of relationships in the workplace. >> what's app

reporters outside his connecticut home, the home until recently that he shared with 34-year-old stephanie birkitt, a woman who is one of letterman's assistants and who "the new york times" says had a past sexual relationship with letterman. letterman said he would not speak anymore on it. but other women, past employees, have come forward saying they had past relationships with letterman. meantime, one of the kings of comedy is now being ridiculed by some of the other guys that share that slot at night. >> peter alexander, thanks so much. >>> and zombie land took over the top spot at the box office over the weekend taking in $25 million according to early estimates. "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" came in second. "toy story and toy story 2" came in third place. >>> four minutes past the hour. let's get another check of the weather from al. >> thanks a lot, natalie. got some kids here from john j. college. their own dedication to the supreme court. that's very nice. which one of you is sonia sotomayor. there you go. very nice. nicely done. there's clarence thomas in the back. nice to see you.

the house where halderman lived he shared with 34-year-old stephanie birkitt. she is one of letterman's assistant and according to "the new york times" had a past relationship with letterman. it's reported today there may have been a grudge between the two men. >> peter, any idea how this may or may not affect letterman's ratings? over the weekend, you've got headlines about a secret bachelor pad at the office place allegedly used by david letterman and women. he was having a relationship with. any idea how this could impact him now he is back and live there? >> a good question. to be fair, we should clarify there were reports in some of the newspapers in new york suggesting a secret love den. i spoke, only a couple of hours ago and et cetera he said, peter, let's be clear. he works long hours and often comes into the office in early morning and stays until late in the evening. he didn't have a secret love den. an office with a couch that pulled out into a bed where he would sleep on occasion and no secret to anybody. in terms of how it affects his ratings and

meantime, letterman's people tell cnn that stephanie birkitt is on paid leave of absence from her job at the late show. stories about her have been banned from the set or stories that she has been banned from the set are not true, according to the sources. so as more evidence of the twisted alleged love triangle comes to light, tonight's big issue, did dave letterman open a can of worms by going to cops? is he perhaps regretting it now? straight out to my fantastic panel. let's welcome stacy honowitz, florida prosecutor. if, a big if, if the post story is true, do you think letterman knew he had essentially been caught in this kind of ugly triangle, why do you think he went to the cops? do you think he could be having second thoughts at this point? >> well, i think any time any salacious kind of facts come out about you, you might be second-guessing what you did and i think maybe when he went to the police officers originally or to the d.a.'s office, he thought to himself if i nip this in the bud and get this guy arrested, none of these facts are going to come out. unfortunately, that

stephanie birkitt is letterman's assistant. multiple sources say birkitt had a sexual relationship with letterman. we have not confirmed that. listen to halderman's attorney defending his client. >> david letterman didn't give his side of the story. he gave what he wanted the public to know. he wanted to get ahead of the story. he is a master at manipulating audiences. to think david letterman gave the entire story is simply wrong. >> what do you have to say about this? we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me carol jenkins, president of the women's media center. robin sachs, a former prosecutor. all right, robin, you hear from joe halderman's attorney. from what we are hearing halderman does not look good and looks guilty. what could exonerate him in some way? >> well, right now the only thing that i think that halderman could be holding back is there was some sort of unfair advantage, some favor, some credit to a sexual harassment claim that people have not wanted to come forward with because of letterman's place and

prosecutors say late night staffer stephanie birkitt who lived with halderman until last week kept a diary we he allegedly used to threaten him with and holly hester admitted to tmz she had an affa with letterman saying "i was madly in love with him at the time. i would have married him." but claims he called it off because of their age difference. >> the major unansred question in this whole saga is whether any of the women he slept with are going to file some kind of sexual harassment suit. if that happens the story is not going to voonish. >> reporter: it has made him the ultimate punch line. >> joe halderman was threatening to reveal details. after sex he would always say "stay tuned for craig ferguson." >> if you came here to sex with the talk show host you've come to the wrong studio. >> reporter: and put cbs executives on edge who sought assurances the girls were of legal age. late night show ratings shot up from a week ago proving scandal still sells. andrea canning, abc news, new york. >>> joe halderman has not spoken publicly about the allegations but a few moments ago i sp

sex with staffers and says those women did get more opportunities just like alleged hook-ups stephanie birkittthere she is in a photo from the news website "les merras." she writes -- so is this business as usual in the late-night comedy culture? it sounds like a little bit of sexism to me. out to my expert panel also joining us, now amy palmer from "in-touch weekly." first off though janey weintraub, the women involved aren't complaining because you know what they're the ones getting the perks but how about the women who aren't sleeping with dave? do they have some sort of case here? >> well, it it depends on what the complaint is. i mean, are they complaining -- >> the complaint is i work in a place and everybody who sleeps with dave they get to do little bits, they get to go to the olympics, they get all the prime positions and you know what i'm not sleeping with them and i'm not getting them. >> vinnie another, not just restricted to "the dave letterman show." this is an old-age problem that women face ands only way it will change, frankly, is when the men step up to the plate in the workp