CHANDRA LEVY CASE - Turns out Condit's wife is NOT an invalid

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[OG Note: This story is getting weirder and weirder. Every time I see a headline on this, it's to do with something Condit said that isn't true.]

NYPost

No Invalid, Wife Is Emerging From Sidelines

By DONNA HOROWITZ in Ceres, Calif. and CORKY SIEMASZKO in New York Daily News Staff Writers

arolyn Condit has said even less than her husband about the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy. That's about to change.

While Rep. Gary Condit's aides have portrayed his wife as an invalid and stay-at-home spouse, neighbors in Ceres, Calif., say she is a beautiful, bubbly blond and active do-gooder with a special love for aiding the elderly.

Investigators are preparing to question Carolyn Condit about Levy, who disappeared May 1.

Carolyn Condit lives fulltime in the Modesto suburb and made a rare, five-day visit to Washington for the May 2 congressional spouses lunch, given by First Lady Laura Bush at the Washington Hilton.

The only public comment she has made — that the intern's relationship with her husband was one of "friendship" — came shortly after Levy disappeared.

Carolyn Condit's decision to live thousands of miles from her husband has raised eyebrows, but friends and neighbors say it suits her.

Nicholas Bavaro, the former vice chairman of the California Republican Party, knows the Condits from the 1970s and says she is not a modern-day political wife.

"I don't see her going to the Chamber of Commerce representing him [Gary]. ... I think she's a throwback to the '70s and '80s," Bavaro said.

"Basically, she's not involved in the campaigns," he noted.

Neighbors in the fiercely private town insist that the 52-year-old grandmother is not a shrinking violet, though.

"She's a very busy girl, very active in civic things," said a man who lives across from the Condit home. The man noted that he had served on the Ceres Historical Society with Carolyn Condit.

One of her pet projects was the restoration of a historic house in the tiny farming town.

"She's a pretty classy lady," said Stan Strohmeyer, secretary-treasurer of the Building Trades Council in Stanislaus, Calif.

Carolyn Condit also has volunteered at Modesto Memorial Hospital, where her father-in-law, the Rev. Adrian Condit, is chaplain.

A neighbor told the Daily News that Carolyn Condit regularly helps out an elderly neighbor, taking her to dinner and doctor's visits. "She'll go out of her way to help you, a real bubbly personality," the woman told The News.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

Answers

NYPost

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: CONDIT ASKED ME TO LIE ABOUT AFFAIR

By NILES LATHEM and CATHY BURKE

July 3, 2001 -- A Seattle stewardess says Democratic Rep. Gary Condit wanted her to lie about a yearlong affair with him.

Flame-haired United Airlines flight attendant Anne Marie Smith, 39 - speaking in public for the first time, during an interview aired last night on Fox News - said a private investigator hired by Condit's lawyer tried to get her to sign a sworn affidavit.

According to Fox News, the affidavit, dated June 15, stated:

"I do not and have not had a relationship with Congressman Condit other than an acquaintance with him."

But Smith said the denial would have been a lie.

"He was asking me to sign it. I personally couldn't sign it," she said. "He said it could be potentially embarrassing for both of us."

It has been Condit's assertion that he was also merely "good friends" with the missing Washington intern Chandra Levy. Levy's parents have said they believe the vivacious 24-year-old was having an affair with the married father of two.

Smith, who said she had a yearlong relationship with Condit that ended in March, has been interviewed twice by the FBI.

Officials close to the probe told The Post that agents were asking her about Condit's behavior and demeanor and whether he would ever commit violence.

Smith reportedly told the FBI she was in love with him and never saw any signs of violence.

In the Fox interview, Smith said she told Condit she'd spoken to the FBI, and "he was really upset with me."

"He said, ‘I see what you are. I see what you are doing,''' Smith went on.

She also quoted him as saying: "You don't have to talk to the media. You don't have to talk to anybody, and you don't even have to talk to the FBI."

Calls to Condit lawyer Joseph Cotchett - who allegedly hired the private investigator who contacted Smith - were not returned. Condit's Washington lawyer, Abbe Lowell, and his congressional chief of staff, Mike Lynch, also did not immediately return calls for comment.

When news of Smith's supposed involvement with Condit first surfaced two weeks ago, Condit's legal team refused to confirm or deny the relationship.

Smith's interview comes as the probe into Levy's disappearance appeared to be steering away from Condit. Police have recently been pursuing a theory that Levy may have been the victim of foul play in her Washington apartment.

Marci Hamilton, a constitutional-law professor at Cardozo Law School in Manhattan, said that legally, Condit is still in the clear - so far.

But, she said, things look dicey.

"He's in hot water," she said.

"If he is charged [in the Levy case] and if there is an indictment and he's going to trial, then the question would be admissibility - either the [Smith] interview or whether she could be forced to testify."

At the very least, she said, "police and prosecutors are going to be thinking about [the interview]."

Levy has been missing since May 1. Her packed bags and possessions were found in her apartment - but her keys were missing.

A former Bureau of Prisons intern, Levy was planning to return home for graduation from the University of Southern California before she disappeared

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001


Very panicky move by Condit. Makes the situation look really grim.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

Peter, you think the previous story made him look panicky - look at this.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010704/us/missing_woman_4.html

Condit Cancels Holiday Appearances By BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press Writer

ATWATER, Calif. (AP) - Facing new allegations of an extramarital affair and growing questions about his relationship with a missing intern, Rep. Gary Condit (news - bio - voting record) Wednesday ducked out of Fourth of July parades he usually attends.

Condit's chief of staff, Mike Lynch, said ``another circumstance arose that he had to attend to,'' but Lynch wouldn't say what that was. Details would become clear in the next few days, Lynch said without offering specifics.

Parade organizers said they were told Condit feared his presence would detract from the family atmosphere, which Lynch said was a concern but not the primary one.

Residents said they'd hoped to see Condit in his usual position at the front of the parade and hear from him about the allegations.

``I think something went wrong. I just don't know what,'' said Oscar Young, an 84-year-old neighbor of Condit, who has voted for him in every election since he was a neophyte politician in his hometown of Ceres. ``I'd like to hear him say something.''

Condit issued a brief statement Tuesday concerning the investigation in the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old former Modesto resident whom Condit has described as a ``great person and a good friend'' and who has not been seen since April 30. Condit denied he had asked a flight attendant to withhold information from investigators.

``I have not asked anyone to refrain from discussing this matter with authorities, nor have I suggested anyone mislead the authorities,'' he said.

The flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith, said Condit, who is 53 and married, asked her to sign a form denying that they had an affair. One of Condit's lawyers said the form was sent to Smith, but said she wasn't urged to sign it. Smith alleges the affair lasted nearly a year.

The revelations, made public in a TV interview Tuesday with the woman, could further jeopardize the conservative Democrat's reputation in California's farm belt.

The congressman is not a suspect in Levy's disappearance, police said, and aides have denied he was having an affair with the former intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. But Levy's mother has said Levy said she was seeing Condit.

Marilyn Rowland said she's ``confused and conflicted'' about what to think. She has worked with Levy's mother on a community concert board and her husband, Chuck, worked with Condit at a Montgomery Ward department store in 1973.

``It would be nice if he'd clear the air,'' she said. ``I just can't believe he's done anything wrong.''

Rarely one to avoid the glare of the cameras, Condit has been seen often on television lately rushing from cameras in Washington without a word.

``I think it's sad he's taken a beating,'' said Bob Waterston, a Fresno County supervisor who said he told Condit that the same allegations could strike any elected official.

Levy's mother, Susan, is not discussing Condit and the private meeting she had with him a week ago in Washington. She says only that she is hoping her daughter comes home alive.

On the street of upscale contemporary homes where she once lived, Chandra's memory is kept alive with yellow ribbons that flap on mailboxes, lampposts and street signs.

Each morning, neighbor Dorothy Johnson sees Susan and Robert Levy, a cancer doctor, stroll past her house.

``He'll say 'Pray for us,''' Johnson said. ``He's desperate.''

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2001


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