City Councilman Jerry Springer, December 1973

A liberal city councilman in Cincinnati, Springer drives across the Ohio River to the Leisure Health Club in Fort Wright, Ky., where he meets a woman named “Marsha.” The club is a brothel masquerading as a massage parlor and Marsha is a hooker, which comes to light after Springer’s name turns up in a police raid -- because he paid for sex with a personal check.

Springer resigns from office, but runs for a seat on the council the following year and wins. In 1977, he’s elected mayor by his fellow council members. In 1982, he runs for governor of Ohio, finishing third in the Democratic primary. He later achieves national notoriety as the host of a frenetic television show specializing in seamy sex revelations, surprise confrontations between guests who were sleeping with the wrong people, on-air fistfights, and, of course, prostitution.



