CONDIT - His father blames Satan

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Condit's Parents Are No Friends of the Devil

Satan has a lot to do with the Chandra Levy scandal, the Rev. Adrian Condit, Rep. Gary Condit's father, told a California newspaper Tuesday.

In their first joint interview since the disappearance of the woman who is now inextricably linked to their son, the Condits told the Ceres Courier that they pitied Gary, who they said is "just about destroyed" by the scandal.

"People are destroying him not only [in] reputation but him," said a tearful Jean Condit.

Congressman Condit's parents side with their son's version of events, despite police sources who say the congressman, a 53-year-old married father of two, admitted to them to having had an affair with Levy, a 24-year-old former Bureau of Prisons intern from his California district.

"He didn't admit to having an affair. He admitted to having a relationship," Rev. Condit said, adding that he was "not sure" what "relationship" specifically meant.

The Condits also were troubled by constant unattributed media mentions of their son's admission to an affair, as well as other information.

However, they said responsibility for the media frenzy ultimately lies with the public's appetite for steamy details.

"When you tell all that you know to tell, what else is there to tell?" said Rev. Condit. "Where are you or anybody else getting the idea that he hasn't told it all? Just because he won't talk about some type of sexual encounter with this girl? Is that the reason they're saying he's not telling it all?"

"That's all people want to hear. 'We had sex,'" said Mrs. Condit.

A Matter of Integrity

The parents of the congressman disagree about what they believe happened to Levy. Rev. Condit believes she is dead. Mrs. Condit feels Levy pulled off her own disappearance to create attention for herself.

They agree that not enough focus has been placed on Levy's other alleged affairs — and too much on their son.

"Gary has given his service and his life to this community," the Condits said. "We've been here [in Ceres] all that time and Gary has not had one accusation on his character. It just blows my mind that people would even think that he would have anything to do with her disappearance.

Both defend their son's perceived evasiveness as his unwillingness to damage the reputation of Chandra Levy.

"Gary has taken a lot of crap because he's trying to be a gentleman and not expose her," said Rev. Condit. He later said his son "hurts" because Chandra is gone.

A 'Great Mistake'

Rev. Condit called his son's relationship with Levy a "great mistake."

Asked whether spiritual forces might be complicit in their son's trouble, Rev. Condit replied, "Sure Satan had a big time role in this."

He added that his son has sought help from God.

"He's confessed to God what he's done wrong," the minister said. "He's cleared that up with God because I have prayed with him several times. In all this stuff, there's not any sense of forgiveness. It's all judgmental. Where does God give you the right to judge? He's asked God to forgive him. And who else is there to ask?

The Condits also said they believe their son's account of his relationship with flight attendant Anne Marie Smith.

"If Gary told me he didn't [have an affair with Smith], I believe him," said Rev. Condit.

Smith claims the congressman pressured her to sign an affidavit denying the relationship. Condit said he didn't ask anyone to lie in the investigation, and told Chung that he did not have a relationship with Smith.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2001

Answers

I saw Condit's daughter on Larry King tonight, she blamed everyone but her father. It was like there was a huge elephant in the room and she acted like it wasn't there.

If Gary Condit would have taken a lie detector test, from the police or FBI, at the start of this thing and it had shown he had nothing to do with the young womens disappearance... he wouldn't have to have his family parade out on TV for his benifit.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


Yep, saw her too, Mags. Did you get an eerie feeling that something is really wrong in that family? (I mean besides teh obvious.) Condit's daughter referred to him as Gary too, just like her brother did, very odd. I get the feeling that something awful is going to happen, like Condit kills his wife, anyone else who happens to be there, and then himself. It seems like the only logical (!) outcome.

The fact that both kids quit their jobs after that very mild comment from Governor Davis tells me they're not averse to crashing and burning. I wonder if Condit gave the order for that move--or maybe Chad? And the way Cadee kept smiling at inappropriate moments--just like her father. I didn't see the interview with Chad, only excerpts--did he do that too?

And you have to ask why Cadee was spending summers and other vacations with her father in Washington when Carolyn Condit "rarely" made it up there.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


I think his father is on the right track. I don't follow "Devil" explanations in the same way that most Christians tend to. But I do follow negative force, service-to-self behavior, and affiliations. Those who *choose* to engage in such behavior, to walk that path, will always end up in a lot of negative entanglements. Condit isn't particularly exceptional, in my opinion. He just happened to get exposed.

I think there is a lot of similar type activity going on with many other politicians in both state and federal positions. I think the political positions are attractive to service-to-self type people. Condit's father, if he is indeed a minister, needs to look deeper into his own beliefs about the Devil, negative activities, and how his own son has surely been involved in such things for many years.

Anyone who truly feels they are on a positive path, versus a negative path, have to back away from committed negative people. Those who choose the negative path are not the least bit interested in any "reforms" or changes in the way they manage things. They don't like getting exposed, of course, but deep down inside they will never blame their own actions as the root cause of their problems.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


Lucianne's comment today:

Out Damned Twinkle: Assuming not everyone in the western world saw Larry King's jaw dropping interview with Cadee, the daughter of serial adulterer Gary Condit, what this very pretty and muddled young woman said was, "I don't blame him for anything ... I'm OK with my dad. We've discussed this." Father and daughter discussed neckties under his bed? Multiple and overlapping lovers while her mother sat at home (ahem) twiddling her thumbs? She also said this whole thing has left him heartbroken and "... You know, I don't know if we'll ever get the twinkle back." So that's what this man had that made women fall into his bed - the Condit Twinkle! She also said that at 24, Chandra Levy was old enough to know better. Nice. Word from inside the loop is that King is desperate for an interview with Cadee's mom. We would expect more of the same mindboggling clap-trap. Here are some rapidly typed excerpts of what this befuddled but very clever child had to say.

(See CNN transcript here

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


ModBee

Thursday, September 6th, 2001

Smith details alleged Condit affair Flight attendant Anne Marie Smith claims she had a sexual relationship with Ceres Rep. Gary Condit. JIM LAWRENCE ILLUSTRATION/THE BEE; PHOTO /AP

By MICHAEL G. MOONEY BEE STAFF WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- After Chandra Levy disappeared, flight attendant Anne Marie Smith was so fearful, she says, that she asked her sister and a girlfriend to contact police if she vanished.

"I still feel that way," Smith said in an exclusive interview with The Bee, her first with a newspaper. "People tell me I don't need to be afraid, but I am."

The connection between Levy and Smith is Ceres Rep. Gary Condit, who has been a focus of police, FBI and media scrutiny during the more than four months since the 24-year-old Modesto woman dropped out of sight.

Smith, 40, claims that she had a sex-ual relationship with the 53-year-old Condit, an affair that she said lasted 10 months -- ending about the time that Levy disappeared.

In a 90-minute question-and-answer session Sunday at the St. Francis Yacht Club, Smith explained why she suddenly became uncomfortable with Condit.

She said she told the FBI that about a month before Levy disappeared, the congressman tried to get Smith to participate in a sexual scenario. She said he had mentioned it often, and she initially thought it was a joke.

When she became convinced that he was serious about the encounter, she got worried. "I thought to myself, 'Oh, my God, I could have been hurt,'" she said.

New feelings of trepidation arose when she heard the news about Levy's disappearance, Smith said. "I can't tell you why, but I felt very frightened."

In the interview, Smith and her attorney, James Robinson, also talked about the affidavit that they say Condit attempted to get her to sign -- a document denying a romantic relationship with Condit.

Robinson said Smith first met Condit in July 2000 on a flight from Washington to San Francisco. Smith, who works for United Airlines, said Condit was not wearing a wedding ring but told her that he was married. He gave her the number for a private telephone line.

Smith said Condit told her that his wife was ill with "encephalitis of the brain."

The congressman's daughter, Cadee Condit, mentioned her mother Carolyn's illness during a cable television interview broadcast Wednesday evening.

"She had encephalitis as a child," Cadee Condit said on "Larry King Live," "and there's some adult side effects of that, which are headaches.

"And a few years back it was really bad. And we've dealt with that, and it's under control."

Last month, in his interview with ABC-TV's Connie Chung, Gary Condit denied having a relationship with Smith and said she was seeking publicity and financial gain.

"I was appalled when I heard him say that," Smith said. "This whole thing is not about me. One of my roommates called the (Washington) D.C. police and told them I was having an affair with Condit. That's how they got my name."

Smith said it was her roommates who betrayed her to Star magazine. And it was her roommates, she said, who were paid for giving the story to the tabloid -- not she.

"It's because of (Condit)," Smith said, "(that) I've been thrown into the middle of this. His conduct and his actions have involved a lot of innocent people -- his family, my family, the Levys."

Condit's office declined to comment on Smith's statements. "It is the policy of this office not to respond to tabloids or newspapers that act like tabloids," said Lisa Mantarro Moore, Condit's district director.

Smith said she would be more than happy to return to her former anonymous life, away from all the hype, notoriety and relentless speculation.

"I was forced into this," she said. "It wasn't something I chose. Do you think I wanted something like this? Do you think I wanted my father to know I had an illicit affair with a married man?"

Had Levy not disappeared, Smith still might be involved with the congressman.

"I really cared about him," she said. "You don't get rid of those feelings overnight.

"We had fun together. He was always very nice to me. I thought he was a man of integrity, down to earth. I didn't know he was dating other girls at the same time he was dating me."

Levy last seen April 30

Levy had just completed an internship with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington when she vanished; she was last seen April 30 at a Washington, D.C., health club, and last heard from, via e-mail, on May 1.

At the time of Levy's disappearance, according to her family, she was romantically involved with Condit.

Condit has said that he and Levy were "very close," but he has neither publicly confirmed nor denied a sexual relationship with her. Numerous media reports indicate that he eventually told Washington police investigators that he was having an affair with her.

That was weeks after the search for Levy began. During his long silence, key Condit staff workers in Modesto and Washington told reporters and editors that there was no truth to the stories of the affair.

Behind the scenes, some Condit critics say, the congressman was working to limit the political fallout.

Robinson said the Condit camp now is working overtime to discredit Smith and her story.

"Annie is an extremely private person," Robinson said. "This type of excitement is so far from her character. So, what are we trying to accomplish? We're trying to get to the bottom of it.

"Nobody in Washington is doing anything, and Anne Marie has opened up her private life to help find (Levy)."

Alleges obstruction of justice

Late last month, Robinson accused Condit and his chief of staff, Mike Lynch, and private investigator Don Thornton of conspiracy to obstruct justice, as well as suborning perjury, by trying to get Smith to sign the affidavit stating that while she was acquainted with Condit, they never had a relationship -- sexual or otherwise.

Robinson took his complaint to the Stanislaus County grand jury, which is scheduled to meet today.

Condit has denied asking anybody to lie, and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Smith and Condit apparently ascribe different meanings to the word "relationship."

Before the sexual scenario incident at the end of March, Smith said, there were no real problems in her relationship with Condit.

Smith said she sometimes picked up Condit at San Francisco International Airport. She said they usually would go to a nearby Hyatt hotel.

Smith said she later would drive Condit to various locations in the East Bay, sometimes a Starbucks coffeehouse or Noah's Bagel outlet, where he would be picked up by Lynch, his chief of staff.

The Bee left telephone messages for Lynch and sent a fax to his office, and received only Mantarro Moore's comment in response.

On one occasion, Smith said, Condit took her for a ride on the back of his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. She said they rode across the San Mateo-

Hayward Bridge and ended up at a hotel in the Livermore area.

Smith could not remember the name of the hotel but said it was built recently and is next door to a Harley-Davidson shop.

She said she stopped seeing Condit after he called her and told her that he might be in trouble and that he might have to disappear for a while.

About a week later, Smith said, she arrived in Washington and called the congressman.

"He told me, 'I'm not in the area and I can't see you.' I felt sick when I realized what was going on. He told me to call him only in an emergency."

Later, Smith said, Condit told her that he had nothing to do with Levy's disappearance.

Still, Smith said, she felt uneasy. That was when she placed telephone calls to her sister and girlfriend, telling them that she was not suicidal, not planning on taking an extended trip, and to contact authorities if she were to vanish.

Never threatened by Condit

Although Smith said she is convinced that Condit remains angry with her and wants to discredit her and her story, she said the congressman has never threatened her or tried to harm her in any way.

"He kept saying," Smith said, "everything's OK with us."

Robinson said FBI investigators took her story seriously and consider her an important witness.

"If she's not a relevant witness," Robinson said, "why do they have her cell phone bills (and) her diary? Why did they talk to her for 14 hours?"

Although Smith said she continues to be plagued by fears, she said she also sympathizes with what Condit has been going through.

"I was talking to my mom a couple of weeks ago," she said. "I told her I felt really sorry for him. Look what this is doing to his life, his family.

"I feel very badly for the whole situation, especially if he had nothing to do with (Levy's) disappearance."

Smith insisted that she is telling the truth about her relationship with Condit, not because she craves celebrity or hopes to get money, but because she is trying to do the right thing and help authorities find Levy.

"Sometimes," Smith said, "you have to do things that are not in your best interests."

Becoming the "other woman" in a Washington missing person case that has morphed into a sex scandal is not what Smith wanted -- nor were the interviews that she has consented to for television.

"The day I did 'Larry King' I was a mess," she said. "I was crying the whole day. I didn't want to do it."

Despite her unwanted notoriety, Smith said she continues to work as a flight attendant and in her part-time catering business.

When she is recognized, Smith said, she generally is treated with understanding.

"People have been overwhelmingly supportive," she said. "When they ask me what they can do to help, I tell them to pray for the Levys."

Bee staff writer Michael G. Mooney can be reached at 578-2384 or mmooney@modbee.com.



-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001



Did you see that really creepy family picture (supplied by the Condits) about 20 minutes into the program? The one where Gary is holding and kissing the adult Cadee wayyyyyyy too close? What can they be thinking? It really set off alarm bells.

I liked that just after Cadee said he'd told her people were going to say he was into "that M&M stuff," the next commercial was for Goodyear Moving services, with the tagline, "I thought I told you to strap everything down!"

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


ROTF, no, I missed that bit with the commercial! I just talked with a friend and we discussed the idea that maybe there's been a bit too much of a father-daughter relationship (depending on how you define "relationship"). The more I see of that family, the creepier it looks. I mean, the patriarch, Rev. Condit, is another creepy person.

The M&M remark struck me as poorly staged. There are very few people in this country who would get M&M mixed up with S&M and Gary Condit is not among them. Cadee smiled far too much and in inappropriate places in the interview and I got the feeling she thought she'd pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001


OG said "... Mags. Did you get an eerie feeling that something is really wrong in that family? (I mean besides teh obvious.) Condit's daughter referred to him as Gary too, just like her brother did, very odd.

Hi, yes I sure did get an eerie feeling as you did about Gary Condit and agree with what you and firemouse said... something odd about him and his daughter.

[snip from an article above]

The congressman's daughter, Cadee Condit, mentioned her mother Carolyn's illness during a cable television interview broadcast Wednesday evening.

"She had encephalitis as a child," Cadee Condit said on "Larry King Live," "and there's some adult side effects of that, which are headaches.

"And a few years back it was really bad. And we've dealt with that, and it's under control." [end snip]

Notice the way the daughter said "and we've dealt with that". To me, she should have said ...and my parents have dealt with that. Between what her brother said on Larry King and the daughter, you would think they are the ones in charge of every thing that happens with that family now. Also, very odd for the children to call their parents by their first names.

When I spoke of the elephant in the middle of the room, I was thinking of all the news reports of Gary Condit's affairs and of course the normal reaction of a wife and children but, the daughter and son just acted like no problem at all for them, like why is there all this fuss about their father cheating on their mother and it being reported all over the country, like DUH.

Reminds me of a joke where a woman comes home and when she walks into their bedroom, she finds her husband in bed with a women. They get out of bed and get dressed while the wife is looking on in disbelief and as the other women walks out of the bedroom, the wife ask who that women was in bed with him....and he ask what women. Like she was nuts and seeing things.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


I missed the bit about encephalitis. Here again, I think there's embroidery. Early reports had Carolyn's friends open-mouthed at reports that Carolyn is or was an "invalid." Apparently, she's heavily involved in all sorts of volunteer activities. back in Modesto. It looks as if Cadee is trying to cover up her father's lies about her mother being an invalid, as noted by those of his mistresses who will talk and as confirmed by Chandra's aunt, as justification for Condit screwing around.

With Condit spending so much time in Washington with his, ahem, friends and sans wife and with his constituents and political hacks when he's in Modesto, how on earth did this family have all this time to "deal with" family matters? One gets the impression they spent a great deal of time around the kitchen table "dealing with" every issue that arose.

I think perhaps Gary Condit made it clear to his wife and children that it was his position as Congressman that paid for everything, including the education of his children and the jobs they held and I think he exacted a stiff price for that. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Condit demanded his children resign those jobs. I believe Condit made the decisions in his family--without consulting anyone--and laid down the law. He's too controlling a person for things to be otherwise.

Yes, Mags, it's a very weird family and it will be interesting to see what pans out.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


BTW--very on-point analogy with the old joke.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


"BTW--very on-point analogy with the old joke"

We just had 8 years of it, except I didn't think it was a joke...

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


The part about the "kids" quiting their jobs may be OG the reason you said. I agree with an earlier thing you said about what the Gov. said was a mild comment about Gary Condit. Chad was going on about the Gov. said about his dad and blah, blah, blah....then Larry King ask if they still worked for the Gov., I laughed so hard when he ask that, because of the look on Chads face. Then the next day it was announced that they had quit and when the daughter came on Larry's show and was ask about their quiting their jobs, she had said she/they had a telephone conversation with the Gov. and was told they were welcome to come back to work for him. Now that sounded sooo fishy to me, why after bashing your boss on national TV would he call and say he wanted you to come back to work for him anytime, like he had his arms open to them...like yeah sure.

Brook, hopefully this bullshit will end soon and not be tolerated like the 8 year joke before. To me, it wasn't so much the affairs he had, IMO, it is all the lies from not only him but others that have got on his bandwagon, not to mention Chandra Levy's disappearance.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


Maybe the Gov knows how really weird that family is and is stepping as lightly as possible. Maybe he doesn't want to disappear :)

Oops--talk abotu coincidence! Jimmy Hoffa's son is live on Fox right now, news conference, says DNA evidence shows Hoffa senior was in a certain car and arrests are likely. Hoffa disappeared 26 years ago.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


Lucianne's comment today:

How Grand: The always informative Capitol Hill Blue tells us that Mr. Condit (if you please, even though his kids call him "Gary") intends to set his own time table for leaving and thinks the end of his term would suit him just fine. We're beginning to think that's just fine. Let him hang around the dems necks as they start to crank up their campaigns. Sit, Mr. Condit. Stay.

(Fm OG: Fox's Rita Cosby reports her sources saying the same thing.)

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


I hope he gets out of office as soon as possible. They must have crunched the numbers and realize he couldn't win again and/or have been told to cut his loses before they get cut for him.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


That outspoken Republican guy from CA, can't think if his name, pretty right-wing, often on Fox, says Condit has been blackmailing fellow Dems. His story is that Condit shared and/or procured women for his fellow politicos and has threatened to give dates and name names if he's pushed out before he wants to go.

Gawd, I love gossip! As Lucianne says, keep him around as long as possible to drown out messages from people like Sen. Clinton.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001


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