COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The revelation that Rita Jenrette posed nude for Playboy magazine produced indignation, snickers and at least one cheer Friday in the state her estranged husband once represented in Congress.
'I say if you've got it, flaunt it,' said Bunny Haynie, 39, a writer for the state Parks and Recreation Department's tourism division in Columbia.
'Thank God that Rita brought garter belts back to Washington,' she said. 'Everyone knows it's hard for a woman to earn fair wages, so I say how Rita earns hers is fair enough.'
'This is completely consistent with the Rita that I've known for five years,' said John Clark, once a top aide to former Rep. John Jenrette, D-S.C., who was convicted of accepting a bribe in the FBI's Abscam investigation. 'I'm not surprised.
'If John Jenrette had posed for some of the pictures, it would be consistent with the John Jenrette I have known for six years,' he said in Columbia.
'I know I am awfully tiredof the continuing saga of John and Rita, and I think that the public's interest in the series of episodes is fast waning,' Clark said.
Efforts to contact Jenrette, 44, for comment were unsuccessful.
It had been reported before Friday that Mrs. Jenrette, 30, would appear in the men's magazine's April issue only in revealing clothing, and no nude photos were expected.
'I can't believe that,' said state Sen. Thomas Smith, D-Florence. 'I hope they show her backside in Playboy because I always wanted to see what making love on marble steps would do to your back. There must be a scar or something.'
Jenrette recently claimed he and Mrs. Jenrette, a former beauty queen from Austin, Texas, once made love on the west steps of the Capitol building in Washington, an episode she confirmed in the Playboy article.
'Well, to quote Jenrette, 'I've seen it all before,'' said Hicks Harwell, a former state legislator whom Jenrette defeated in the June 1980 primary.
On a more serious note, Harwell said in Florence that 'the constituency in the (Sixth) District is embarrassed by her notoriety.'
'Her story, book and Playboy article are probably financially motivated,' Harwell said. 'I think a number of people are disappointed by it and it is an unsavory reflection to some extent.'
Warren Clayton, Jenrette's most recent press secretary, said from Washington that 'a year ago, I would not have thought it would have happened, but the most consistent thing about Rita is her inconsistency.'
Bill Carrick, the executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party in Columbia and also a former press secretary to Jenrette, said: 'Spare me, please. I don't want to ever talk about Rita Jenrette again. I just want her and the Playboy article to go away.'
