NYDailyNews

Ugly Rumors Tar Chandra Levy allies furious at lurid sex slurs, blame congressman's team

By HELEN KENNEDY Daily News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON he ever-grinning Rep. Gary Condit returned to work on Capitol Hill yesterday as controversy swirled over his team's whispering campaign about Chandra Levy's sex life.

Condit's spokeswoman, Marina Ein, drew heat for telling reporters — falsely, it now appears — that Talk magazine was about to expose Levy's alleged pattern of seeking out one-night stands when her relationships went bad.

The implication was that reporters should look for someone other than Condit in their search for a person who might have harmed Levy.

Ein's comments, while ignored by some reporters, were published yesterday in the online magazine Salon: "What about the fact that Lisa DePaulo is working on this article for Talk magazine and it turns out Chandra Levy has a history of one-night stands?"

DePaulo, author of the upcoming Talk article, said her story was totally mischaracterized.

"I don't know where this 'one-night stand' thing came from," DePaulo said. "There's nothing that I found in two months of reporting that even hints at that. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Chandra was very much a one-man woman."

A close friend of Chandra Levy's parents, Robert and Susan Levy, said he was furious about the slur and predicted more attacks on the Levys from the Condit team.

"This is outrageous. Just you watch. Next they're going to try to go after Linda," he said, referring to Linda Zamsky, Chandra's aunt, who dealt the congressman a devastating PR blow by revealing the details of his affair with her niece.

Ein, who was recently hired by Condit lawyer Abbe Lowell, did not return calls yesterday.

In Washington parks yesterday, police recruits continued to search for the missing 24-year-old intern. They found a lot of trash in the undergrowth — including sneakers and a box cutter — but no sign of Levy.

As police beat the bushes in parks and FBI technicians pored over the results of his privately administered polygraph test, Condit grinned his way through a cluster of cameras.

"What attention?" Condit joked, when asked what he thinks of the reporters dogging his every move.

Resolutely maintaining his "What-me-worry?" mask, the congressman took his seat on the House Agriculture Committee, chatting and laughing.

Police revealed that besides looking up locations in Washington's Rock Creek Park, Levy also used her computer on May 1 to research Condit's Agriculture Committee.

In Condit's home district in California, a few dozen people demonstrated outside his office in Modesto, chanting: "Too little, too late, your lies have sealed your fate."

The protesters, drawn by a conservative Web site, demanded that Condit resign.

Condit's chief of staff, Mike Lynch, blasted them for using the case to score political points.

"Congressman Condit believes the disappearance of Chandra Levy and the ongoing police investigation should not be exploited by partisan special interest groups, which have their own political agenda," Lynch said.

He said Condit would break his public silence with an address to constituents "at an appropriate time."

Outside his home in Modesto, Robert Levy said he and his wife were watching TV coverage of the search for their daughter's body. "It's all upsetting, but they've got to do it," he said.

Susan Levy, who curls up in her daughter's empty bed when she can't sleep, said, "It's been 11 weeks of torturous craziness."

Original Publication Date: 7/18/01

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001