MSNBC

NBC NEWS AND WIRE REPORTS Aug. 13 — Beleaguered Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., will run for a seventh term in the House, his spokesman said Monday. “Early on, long before this issue” — the disappearance of a federal intern — “he decided to seek re-election. Those plans have not changed,” Condit chief of staff Mike Lynch said in an interview with CNN.

POLICE HAVE questioned Condit to see whether he knows anything about the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a graduate student who worked at the Bureau of Prisons and who reportedly had a romantic liaison with Condit.

Police have said Condit is not a suspect in the disappearance of Levy, who vanished on or about May 1.

Lynch said “the only issue here is a disappearance” and promised that Condit would speak to his constituents “at the appropriate time.”

Lynch said nothing in the Modesto Bee’s call Sunday for Condit to step down. He also chastised the newspaper for continuing to focus on Condit’s behavior in the weeks after Levy went missing, saying, “There’s no linkage.”

“In the final analysis ... at the close of the day, people are going to recognize that Congressman Condit had no link to the disappearance” and that what should be examined was that a young woman was missing, rather than other issues, Lynch said.

When asked whether Condit had his staff lie about his relationship with the young woman, Lynch responded: “That didn’t happen.” He also said he could not comment on what Condit said to police investigators.

In a statement issued late Sunday in Washington, Condit criticized the editorial published in the Bee urging him to resign.

“It is terribly unfair and disappointing that the Bee would have come to any decision about me without first allowing the investigation to continue and hearing what I have to say,” he said. “My thirty years in public service should have earned me that much consideration.”

Condit, who has maintained a public silence about his relationship with Levy and his actions after she vanished, said the newspaper rushed to judgment by not allowing him to spend time with his family before addressing his constituents.

PROMISES PUBLIC COMMENT

“I am hopeful that my neighbors and constituents will be more understanding of the complexities of this case and will be more respectful of the process,” Condit said. “I can only hope that they will judge me on my entire record, and that they will wait their judgment until they have heard what I have to say, which I plan to do very soon.”

In its editorial, the Bee called Condit’s behavior since Levy disappeared “abhorrent.”

The newspaper said it had tried to give Condit the benefit of the doubt and allow him to speak publicly about his involvement in the case. But it said Condit had remained silent as details became public about his romantic relationship with Levy and his initial statements to police that did not disclose the affair.

“Condit has put his own interests ahead of the effort to find Levy,” the paper declared. “Condit has offered no explanation, no defense, no remorse. Condit knowingly hindered — if not obstructed — the police investigation into her disappearance, letting the trail grow cold.” DISPUTE OVER CHIEF’S COMMENT

The paper quoted Washington Police Chief Charles Ramsey as saying police didn’t have all the details of Condit’s relationship with Levy for several weeks, a characterization Condit’s statement Sunday called “out of context.”

Levy, 24, of Modesto, met Condit, her 53-year-old married congressman, last fall and began an affair with him, family members have said. Condit confirmed the affair to investigators, but not until a third interview, police sources have told NBC News.

He is the subject of a preliminary obstruction of justice inquiry amid allegations by two women that he and senior aide Mike Dayton urged them not to cooperate with investigators. FOCUS ON CONDIT

Meanwhile, Levy’s parents said they didn’t believe they were hampering the investigation of their daughter’s disappearance by keeping their focus on Condit and calling for him to give a full account of what he knows.

“Our private investigators have been looking at every possibility … people in the building, people at the health club, her friends, her co-workers, random crime ... other disappearances,” her father, Robert, said in an interview broadcast Friday on “Dateline NBC. “But while those avenues are being explored, the Levys said they remained “deeply suspicious” of Condit because he had not been forthcoming.

Asked whether Condit didn’t deserve the presumption of innocence, Robert Levy replied, “Everyone deserves that presumption, but if they’re acting very suspicious and the appropriate action is not taken at the appropriate time, then the suspicion remains.”

Susan Levy also described her tense meeting with Condit at a Washington hotel June 21, saying he appeared “uptight and nervous.”

She quoted Condit as saying he would do “everything possible” to assist in the investigation, but she added, “My gut feeling, I don’t know if he has done everything possible to help me find my daughter.”

HUG REFUSED

She also said she resisted Condit’s attempt to embrace her at the conclusion of the meeting.

“He asked to give me a hug, and I didn’t want his hug,” she said.

Condit has not been seen since he returned home while Congress is on break. Before Sunday, his only other public statement, issued shortly after she disappeared, called her “a great person and a good friend.”

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Answers

Well, he was thinking great lay, but couldn't actually say it...

I feel for the parents. The mother is managing quite well in public, considering her loss, and having to deal with such an idiot civil servant.

As Jay Leno referred to it, something about stud service instead of civil service...

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/227/nation/In_a_clear_sign_Condit_s_ru nni:.shtml

In a clear sign Condit's running, `Condit Country' fund-raising event to go on

By Brian Melley, Associated Press, 8/15/2001 18:08

CERES, Calif. (AP) The annual ''Condit Country'' fund-raiser, a popular autumn event in these parts, is still on the congressman's fall schedule in the clearest sign yet that embattled Rep. Gary Condit will seek re-election.

Spokeswoman Marina Ein said the show will go on despite calls for Condit's resignation because of his affair with Chandra Levy, the federal intern who subsequently vanished. The annual $35-a-head barbecue is planned for Oct. 20 at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds.

Condit's chief of staff Mike Lynch has said repeatedly that Condit would run again, but it had been unclear what the congressman was doing in preparation.

He held a $250-a-plate fund-raiser in July that was scheduled before the controversy erupted, but the conservative Democrat has kept a low profile since.

He skipped Fourth of July parades in his sprawling farm district and has not scheduled any public appearances during the August Congressional recess.

Since Levy, of Modesto, vanished from Washington, D.C., on May 1, Condit has been criticized for not immediately disclosing the nature of their relationship to police and for not speaking with constituents.

Condit, 53, confirmed he had an affair with Levy, 24, during a third interview with police, according to a police source. Investigators have said Condit is not a suspect in her disappearance.

The two largest circulation daily newspapers in Condit's district The Modesto Bee and The Fresno Bee both called for his resignation in editorials Sunday and his hometown weekly, the Ceres Courier, ran a similar editorial last week.

But Condit appears undaunted, saying in a written statement that the Bee newspapers were unfair for not waiting to hear his side of the story at the conclusion of the Levy investigation. He said the Courier has been a longtime partisan foe.

Voters in the district, who have seen their favorite son the subject of saturation news coverage for months, have been mixed in their support.

Some have called for his resignation, but others continue to stand by their man.

''I think he's done a hell of a job for Ceres,'' said Margie Smith, 61. ''I think it's too bad they have to publicize his personal life.''

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Well, he's partly right. he'll run...

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001