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Analysis: Condit had built a 'burgeoning political machine'

Updated: Aug. 24, 2001 - 9:54 p.m.

Among the fields and pastures of the Central Valley, U.S. Rep. Gary Condit has built a political network more like an urban machine than anything seen in rural California.

That network helped elect Gov. Gray Davis in 1998 and has made Condit, in the words of a California Republican, "the de facto agriculture secretary for the Davis administration."

Now, however, Condit sinks deeper into the controversy surrounding Chandra Levy, the missing Washington, D.C., intern with whom Condit has admitted having a relationship. That, in turn, has weakened the Ceres Democrat's influence and network.

"There was a burgeoning political machine, if you will," said GOP political consultant Rob Stutzman. "Since Gray Davis was elected governor, it was considered an up-and-coming machine."

With Davis as governor, Condit's influence in the agriculture community increased, said state Sen. Richard Monteith, a Republican from nearby Modesto.

"I believe he's the most influential congressman in the state of California because he's so close to the governor," Monteith said. "He's got the governor's ear. I believe he's been very influential in suggesting appointments."

Condit allies now populate several state agencies, particularly those related to water and agriculture. Members of those interest groups also give big money to both Condit and Davis, including E&J Gallo Winery, based in Condit's district, and Santa Monica-based Cadiz Inc., which wants to build a vast water-banking system for Southern California.

Davis also raised money for a Condit-run political action committee whose treasurer is a close Davis ally.

Another factor that increased Condit's influence was the close partisan balance in Washington. As a conservative Democrat in the Republican-controlled House, Condit was a bridge for Davis and others to the Republicans.

All of that's changed since Levy disappeared.

Condit kept silent and then engaged in a media blitz last week that has received universally poor reviews. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, who had been giving Condit a higher profile among House Democrats, chastised him Friday for being evasive, as did Rep. Cal Dooley, a Central Valley Democrat.

Beyond being embarrassed, Condit's political career, which started with the Ceres City Council in 1972, is in jeopardy.

"Everybody sort of thought Condit had a safe seat," said Lawrence Giventer, a professor of politics and public administration at California State University, Stanislaus. "Now, I think all bets are off."

Until scandal struck, Condit was Davis' point man on redrawing congressional boundary lines. But Democratic mapmakers seem ready to craft a district that's barely like his current constituency.

Instead of watching Condit lose a re-election fight, Democrats will force him from office by drawing a new district to include hundreds of thousands of new voters unfamiliar with his record, said Tony Quinn, a campaign analyst and former GOP redistricting consultant.

"A bunch of new voters would be disastrous for him. Why would a new voter ever vote for Condit?" Quinn said.

Damaged and without a safe district in which to run, Condit's career could be over, Quinn said. The fallout from Condit's troubles has already settled on a variety of state and valley politicians.

First, it has stopped his son, Chad, from seeking the Assembly seat now held by Democrat Dennis Cardoza, a Condit protege who must leave because of term limits.

Chad Condit makes $110,856 a year as Davis' Central Valley liaison, while Cadee Condit, Gary's daughter, earns $52,644 as a staff assistant for motor vehicles, according to 2001 state salary records. Before joining Davis, Chad Condit had been Cardoza's chief of staff.

Cardoza, an Atwater Democrat, employs Condit's sister, Dovie Wilson, as a $52,800-a-year office manager, although she lives in Daly City, more than 100 miles from Cardoza's Central Valley district.

Condit's daughter-in-law, Helen, made $23,283 last year as a fund-raiser for Cardoza, who also employs another Chad Condit in-law, Jamie L. Filice, as a $45,000 senior field representative.

These familial ties have bolstered Condit's political ones, helping him build the potent machine that reaches across party lines.

A Republicans for Condit committee gave him money during his Assembly career. When Modesto City Councilman Bill Conrad challenged Condit in 1996, he found to his dismay that several GOP county central committeemen were among Condit's contributors.

"He seems to be not of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but of the Condit Party," said Conrad, who is running for the seat once more.

The congressman's annual "Condit Country" fall fund-raiser draws local politicians of both parties to dish up barbecue while meeting and greeting the thousands of attendees.

"It's a get-together of the clan," said Modesto Mayor Carmen Sabatino, who won without Condit's support. "The deal was he would support local officials and local officials wouldn't run against him."

By one official's count, Condit was involved in 13 local elections during the last cycle, helping expand his political network.

For instance, Chad Condit organized the successful campaigns of two Stanislaus County supervisors. Gary Condit and Cardoza also donated money to many of the same local politicians, furthering strengthening their local connections.

Cardoza, who has opened a campaign account for a Senate race to succeed Monteith, is also mentioned as a possible candidate for Condit's congressional seat if Condit doesn't seek re-election.

Since 1989, when he was first elected to Congress, Condit's seeking re-election was a given. He constantly handed out campaign-purchased gifts and flowers, and cultivated an image of a down-home Central Valley boy despite 12 years in Washington, said University of California, Berkeley, political scientist Bruce Cain.

He regularly wrangled invitations for introductions at local church services -- often with the aid of his father, the Rev. Adrian Condit -- shaking hands with lines of parishioners afterward.

It was all part of what Cain called Condit's "vision of himself as a family man and Eagle Scout, and he knows that in his district he has to be that way."

Then he was forced into the silence he broke last week, an attempt to reviving a flat-lining career that consultants said may not work.

Condit had to speak out to save his career and the political network that counted on him, Stutzman said. "But I wouldn't be surprised, if they do any polling, that he's further alienated the voters of his district."

-- Associated Press

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Answers

Boy, he really shot himself in the foot, didn't he? His dalliances have pretty much destroyed his whole family's political chances, I think.

That bit about having the governor's ear...LOL He may have to get a bit more if he wants to have any chance of staying in the political game anywhere. Not that I'm suggesting he should, or does, or did, or will, mind you...

LOL

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001