Gary Condit: Clinton Redux
Hartford Courant Editorial
July 18, 2001
Once again, the nation's capital is consumed by scandal
involving a public officeholder and an intern.
The details of Rep. Gary Condit's situation are not identical
with Bill Clinton's lying under oath about his relationship with
Monica Lewinsky. But any smart lawmaker would have
learned from the Clinton affair that obfuscating, misleading,
denying and telling untruths will not work.
Mr. Condit has chosen to live in a glass house and he
cannot draw the curtains and pretend nothing has happened.
Yet the California congressman has done just that and, in
the process, served himself and his constituents poorly.
He should have cooperated with investigators from the
moment Chandra Levy disappeared on May 1. He should
have volunteered to take a lie detector test administered by
the FBI. He should have been forthright about his relationship
with Ms. Levy, who is his constituent and had worked as an
intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington.
He should not have backed into implicitly acknowledging that
he was more than just a "good friend" of Ms. Levy. She had
confided to at least one relative that she and the married
congressman were having an affair.
It was only after his third interview with Washington police,
on July 6, that Mr. Condit admitted that the relationship was
romantic, according to news reports that he has not denied.
If Mr. Condit lied about the nature of his relationship with Ms.
Levy, it naturally raises questions about what else he might
know and is not disclosing.
As with the Clinton farce, some people have tried to frame
the issue in terms of sex. There's nothing unusual about a
married congressman having a sexual affair with an intern,
the argument goes. Not unusual, perhaps. But that doesn't
make it right or tolerable.
Yet if the response of some members of Connecticut's
congressional delegation is typical, Mr. Condit may weather
this storm.
The toughest words came from U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons of
the 2nd District, who said he thought Mr. Condit "has not
been forthcoming" and perhaps ought to think about
resigning.
Rep. James Maloney of the 5th District says Mr. Condit has
"made a massive public relations error in the way he has
handled this" and has "clearly not been forthcoming."
Rep. Christopher Shays of the 4th District describes himself
as a good friend and says Mr. Condit's initial denials call
"everything else into question." Mr. Shays maintains that Mr.
Condit should take the FBI polygraph test.
Mr. Condit has refused to take an FBI-administered lie
detector test. Instead, he took a private polygraph test,
which his lawyer says he passed. Surely such a test
orchestrated by and paid by Mr. Condit cannot be taken
seriously.
Mr. Condit has shown that he has not learned from the
Clinton debacle.
Dodd Helped Friend Secure Presidential Pardon
By DAVID LIGHTMAN
The Hartford Courant, February 24, 2001
WASHINGTON - Sen. Christopher J. Dodd personally wrote
President Clinton a two-page letter requesting a pardon for
Edward Downe Jr. of New York, who pleaded guilty in 1993
to violating tax and securities laws. Clinton granted the full
and unconditional pardon last month.
Downe, a former director of the Bear Stearns investment
firm, was also accused by the Securities and Exchange
Commission of providing inside information to friends and
family in the late 1980s, an effort that, according to the SEC,
allowed them to amass $13 million in profits. Dodd, who was
present at Downe's sentencing hearing in 1993, is an old
friend. "They've known each other for 20 years," said Dodd
spokesman Marvin Fast. "He's a very good friend."
Downe was sentenced to three years' probation and
community service for the federal violations. In 1994 he
agreed with the SEC to pay back $11 million. He did not
admit or deny guilt.
Dodd once headed the Senate's Securities Subcommittee,
which oversees securities matters. Fast insisted there was
no connection. "He has paid his debt to society," he said of
Downe. "Sen. Dodd has said there's not a sinner without a
future or a saint without a past."
In his letter to Clinton, the senator, who initiated the pardon
request, said he and Downe speak nearly every day.
"Ed made a mistake a couple of years ago, for which he has
accepted full responsibility," Dodd wrote. "Over the years,
Ed has expressed to me, his family and his friends his deep
remorse for his actions."
What has particularly moved him, Dodd added, was that
although Downe's community service obligation ended long
ago, "because he found the experience so rewarding, Ed has
continued to teach and assist students as a volunteer."
Downe's service consisted of teaching mostly minority
students at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University.
"The example of Ed's private goodness is extensive," Dodd
said, "but they all share one thing in common - they were all
done quietly to help people, average people in need."
Downe was a frequent contributor to Democratic campaigns,
usually in $1,000 chunks. He gave Hillary Rodham Clinton
$1,000 and Vice President Al Gore $1,000 in 1999, and gave
Dodd $2,000 in 1995.
Downe could not be reached for comment, but SEC officials
told USA Today last week that they were not notified about
the pardon. Fast said it went through proper channels, and
Dodd did not speak personally to President Clinton about the
matter.
Downe's was one of two pardon requests from Connecticut
members of Congress. Former Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-2nd
District, wrote a letter on behalf of his brother-in-law, Stuart
Harris Cohn of New Haven.
Cohn, brother of Gejdenson's wife, got a Clinton pardon for a
1979 commodities trading violation.
Cohn, now an Internet businessman, said Friday that the
pardon request went through proper channels. He hired an
attorney specializing in pardons to help, and thought
Gejdenson's effort, while welcomed, was not crucial.
"In terms of politics, Sam had already lost," Cohn said.
Gejdenson lost his re-election bid in November.
"The letter that helped me the most was probably the one
written by my 13-year-old daughter," Cohn said.
He said he waited so long to seek the pardon because there
had been no Democratic president since his conviction until
Clinton, and was told pardons are usually meted out at the
end of a term.
"This is nothing," he said of any Gejdenson influence. "I'm
just an average person who has a brother-in-law who's
prominent."
Around the state, party officials and spokesmen said they
were not asked to lobby the White House for any pardons.
"I have no knowledge of anyone who sought, was seeking or
got [a pardon]," said state Democratic Party Chairman John
Olsen. "I suspect the system doesn't necessarily work
through the chairman of the party."
Courant Staff Writer Liz Halloran contributed to this report.