-Caveat Lector-
Press faces backlash for its paparazzi pursuit of Condit
By Betsy Rothstein
The Hill
"In Washington, people's lives are destroyed for sport." - Vince Foster in
his 1993 suicide note.
Sometimes silence isn't so golden.
Try asking Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.), a politician who has become a
prisoner in his own institution as the result of his relationship to the
missing Federal Bureau of Prisons intern, Chandra Levy, and defiance toward
a press corps made only more rabid by his silence.
For eight weeks, Condit has spoken about the missing 24-year-old woman
through the filter of top aides on his congressional staff and his lawyers.
Some members of Congress watch with disdain for what is happening to Condit
and insist that members of the media will pay a price for their relentless
pursuit of their colleague.
"I predict there will be a backlash against the press because of the way
they are hounding him," said Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), a close
friend of Condit.
Camera crews have camped outside Condit's Rayburn Building office and his
Adams Morgan condo. They monitor his every move. They chase him down long
hallways to votes and to the concrete door of the House gym -
a place where Condit seeks refuge from staff and media. On Monday, TV
camera crews stationed outside Condit's office were moved when other
members on the hallway complained, said Mike Dayton, an aide in Condit's
Washington office.
PATRICK G. RYAN Lawyer Billy Martin (left) appears with Chandra Levy's
parents to announce that he is starting his own investigation.
In one of his first acts since Levy's disappearance on April 30, Condit had
his California lawyer, Joe Cotchett, request retractions from various media
outlets, including The Washington Post for reporting that Condit told
police that Levy spent the night at his condo. The newspaper stands by its
story, but Condit aides deny that Condit ever told police that such a
sleepover occurred.
The police have said that Condit is not the subject of a criminal
investigation.
Mike Lynch, Condit's chief of staff, is frustrated by the media coverage,
but knows he can't quell it. "The media is having a temper tantrum," Lynch
told The Hill. "About four weeks ago it [the media] decided that Gary
Condit was connected to the disappearance of Chandra Levy, and it is on TV
every night and they will bend and invent and distort data to invent that
position."
He added, "Unfortunately for them, they are getting more desperate as time
goes on that there is no connection, there has never been a connection and
there will never be a connection. So they're strung out."
As for why Condit has not responded personally to press requests, Lynch
explained: "He just thinks it's irresponsible to make comments in an
ongoing investigation and has always abided by that. He has always been
careful not to trifle with ongoing police work, probably because his
brother is a [Modesto] police officer."
Lynch said the pursuit by Condit's California lawyer, Joe Cotchett, to
obtain retractions and file possible lawsuits against some media outlets
will continue. "The caterwauling of the media is something I have not seen
before," said Lynch. "Now they are reporting rumor and innuendoes. That's
their game. That's what they want to do. Nobody can stop them, and as it
goes on, more and more people will lose confidence in the media. I don't
know if that's better or worse for the nation."
Lynch cited The Washington Post, NBC Television, the New York Daily News
and Channel 3 in Sacramento as news organizations that are being pursued by
Cotchett.
"This is a case of press overreaction," said Lynch, adding that last week
when detectives dropped by Condit's D.C. office unannounced, Condit was
either boarding a plane in San Francisco or en route to Washington, D.C.
"It's reported as detectives drop by and Condit refused to speak. It's
technically accurate, but they don't say he was 3,000 miles away in
California."
Lynch said he tries to keep his composure when dealing with the media.
"Well, you get angry, but there's nothing you can do about it."
While members of the media have reported that Condit's silence indicates
his culpability, many lawmakers share a different perspective.
"The bottom line, Gary has an obligation to cooperate with the legal system
and I believe he's doing that, and that is what he's got an obligation to
do," said Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.). "The press accounts have been
extraordinary given that Gary has been cooperating with the legal
authorities and they said he wasn't the subject of their investigation."
He added, "I consider him a close friend. I believe that he's honest and
forthright."
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who chairs the GOP communications Theme Team,
said the treatment of Condit by the media only further exemplifies the
"piranha"-like atmosphere that already exists in Washington.
"While they [the media] haven't convicted him, they are certainly painting
this picture of him being involved in it," said Kingston, who once sat
alongside Condit in a House Bible study group. "He's an honorable man, and
I think that the media has confused silence with guilt."
He added: "You're damned if you do and damned if you don't in terms of
talking to the media. He's putting her [Levy's] interests first and
decided it's best not to talk to the media, and I'm not sure that wasn't
suggested by the police."
Kingston, who has rarely feared members of the press, said his colleagues
agree that Condit's situation will only make them more "gun shy" when it
comes to "saying anything in the press."
"Most other members are appalled at the way the media is convicting him,"
he said. "The police have said publicly they don't have a problem with
him.
The media won't take a step back."
But according to Dr. Lawrence Giventer, a professor at California State
University in Turlock, a town 10 miles south of Modesto, Condit has an
obligation to speak up. "The media is correct in demanding that he be more
forthcoming to explain what's going on," said Giventer.
Giventer said while Condit enjoys the overwhelming support of voters, "you
go into a coffee shop and it certainly is the topic of conversation.
People make the smart, cynical remark accompanied by a smirk."
He explained that people have come to expect dishonesty from politicians
because of Bill Clinton's infamous TV lie about his relationship with
Monica Lewinsky. "We've been lied to by public figures," added Giventer.
"It's just part of the age we're in. Gary has a lot of support and
sympathy. I'll tell you, if he's caught in a lie though, that may very
well change."
For Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), the media isn't something he plans to
challenge anytime soon. "It's pretty hard to backlash the media,"
said Davis.
"The media is a powerful instrument. It just really is."
He added, "What I feel more than anything is that one is innocent until
somebody determines something else. He has indicated what I consider to be
his side of the story."
But Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who serves alongside Condit in the Blue
Dog Coalition, said he is confused by all the "misspent" time placed on
Condit by the media rather than on finding Levy.
"I don't think they'd be reporting this if it was Richard Jewell," said
Thompson, referring to the security guard who was falsely blamed in the
media for the bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. "That poor guy.
Not only was he not the one who did the bomb, but he was guilty in the
press from day one."
Of Condit, he added: "Who's he supposed to be talking to? That's part of
what mystifies me."
Thompson said he fears that this type of treatment toward Condit could
happen to any member of Congress, and used himself as an example: "What
happens if you go out to dinner with a staff person or you walk a staff
person home? My former scheduler used to live a couple blocks from me and
I'd walk her home at night. What would happen if one night I walked her
home and something happened after I left?"
He added, "Heck yeah. It could happen to anybody."
Persons with information about the disappearance of Chandra Levy are
requested to phone the police hotline at 202-727-3923.
=======================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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