Posted on 06/24/2005 3:17:51 PM PDT by SmithL
Orange County Assemblyman Tom Umberg on Thursday admitted to and apologized for cheating on his wife in a four-year affair that ended about the time of his election in November.
Umberg went public with his indiscretion after his former mistress, who possesses e-mails they had exchanged, threatened to ruin his political career, said George Urch, Umberg's spokesman.
In a brief written statement Thursday, Umberg said he has apologized to his family and will regret forever the mistakes and pain that he has caused his wife of 23 years, Robin, and their three children.
"I love my wife very much and am most grateful that she and I are committed to living the rest of our lives together," said Umberg, 49.
The Democrat ended with a nod to supporters, saying, "I am sorry for the hurt and disappointment that I've caused to all who have believed in me."
Umberg and his wife broke the story hours earlier in a report that appeared in the Los Angeles Times, which said the couple had requested an interview.
Umberg declined to meet with Capitol media Thursday, but Urch confirmed details of the Times story, including that:
• The Santa Ana lawmaker, who also serves as a colonel in the Army reserves, met his mistress through Democratic Party activities.
• The affair began after Umberg left the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2000 and was working for a Washington law office.
• After the affair ended, the woman, whose name was not disclosed, confronted Robin Umberg at the family home, visited the Assembly gallery in an attempt to speak to the assemblyman and attended a school event involving the family.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Five paragraphs down.
At least he didn't drown her in an Oldsmobile and not report it until he sobered up!
They never are.
Hell hath no fury like . . .
I wonder if the mistress will now sell her story to the tabloids.
What an idiot.
Ah, extorted into the truth. Well sir you have my repsect. /sarcasm
"Having known the Umbergs for many years, I know they stand committed to each other in these troubled times," Dunn said. "I continue to enthusiastically support Tom as a dedicated public servant committed to his constituents."
Umberg and his wife, Robin, revealed the affair Wednesday because they said the woman had threatened to make it public. The assemblyman would not name her for privacy reasons, but The Times has independently learned her name, and for a second day she didn't return calls seeking comment.
Umberg said he believed the woman had shown the Orange County Register e-mails they exchanged, and he believed the newspaper was preparing a story with her account of the affair.
Umberg said the relationship began in 2000 in Washington, D.C., after he and the woman, whom he knew years before, became reacquainted. He said it continued on and off until he ended it in November. He was sworn into the Assembly in December, having previously represented the area from 1990 to 1994.
Umberg's office received several calls reacting to the revelation Thursday, with most urging the couple to "hang in there," said his chief of staff, George Urch.
"I figured we'd have some Republicans calling up, laughing in the phone, but we haven't had that," Urch said.
Well I have been a little busy today.
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Questions dog Umberg campaign
Records show he wasn't in Guantanamo as often as his campaign made it appear.
The Orange County Register, June 24, 2005
Last October, the wife of Assemblyman Tom Umberg lugged a cardboard cutout of her husband to a campaign fundraiser, like she had done many times before during the fall campaign.Tom Umberg could not be there, Robin Umberg told the crowd, because he was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But it's unlikely that he was there, according to phone records and e-mails obtained by The Orange County Register.
When asking for votes or raising money, his campaign rarely missed an opportunity to cite Umberg's assignment as an Army Reserve colonel helping prosecute terrorism suspects at the military base. It was an assignment that required him, under military rules, to abstain from political activity, even as he was running for the Legislature.
Umberg, a Democrat, won the election. His Dec. 6 swearing-in was announced by a press release that began, "Returning from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was serving as a Military Prosecutor"
But Umberg spent about 16 days of his four-month tour of duty in Guantanamo Bay, the e-mail and phone records show.
While he was on duty, Umberg spent most of his time in the Washington, D.C., area, preparing legal briefs and investigating suspects, earning acommendation for his work. He also attended dinners with politicians, watched baseball games, ran a 10-mile footrace and carried out an extramarital affair with a former Assembly staffer.
(snip)
Umberg also faced questions about where he lived during last year's primary election. In 2003, when he decided he wanted to return to the Legislature, he and his family were living in a five-bedroom house in Villa Park – in a heavily Republican Assembly district.
That October, Tom and Robin Umberg and their two oldest children rented and registered to vote at a one-bedroom condo in Santa Ana, the heart of a safe Democratic district.
More of that 'Old Fashioned Moral Leadership' from the Dems. I can't believe they say they're losing voters at a rapid pace! /sarcasm
What a doorknob.
What is so special about THIS DemoRat? They are all without morals and screw anyone they can, in more ways than one...just following the great example of PRESIDENT Billy...and, and, and, and, and.....
P.S. And were's the new bling-bling for Wifey? ;)
Well, I guess you have to give some credit to a crapweasel scumbag dem who is violating his oath by stchumphing someone of the OPPOSITE gender. Even though it was Orange County, the absence of a party designation made it pretty clear that tey were talking about a Republican. And, fortunately for him, as a scumbag dem, he'll be able to put this behind him without the shrill screams for resignation that would come from the sewers were he from the honest party.
Wow, what a winner she was. I give the guy credit for standing up to this psycho scorned woman. But he should resign for the other reasons in this thread, such as having his wife lie about his whereabouts during the campaign.
Umberg served in the Assembly from 1990 to 1994. He left the Legislature to make unsuccessful runs for state Attorney General in 1994 and for state Insurance Commissioner in 2002.His affair with Ann Wallace, who worked for him in the early 1990s, began in 2000 when Wallace and Umberg were working in Washington, D.C., according to e-mails.
On Nov. 24, two weeks after Umberg left Guantanamo for the last time, Wallace received an e-mail from Robin Umberg declaring that her husband had agreed to end their relationship.
In the e-mail, Robin Umberg wrote of her husband that "this supposedly wonderful man is a compulsive liar." She wrote of giving "110% working for his campaign and he establishes (an) affair. He really is a cruel man."
He sounds like a low-life. The affair is one thing, but the way he abused his wife in advance of his professional career is what really gets me (and which is what she seems to be alluding to in that quote). That stretches from any arguably private sphere into the public arena and is the decisive issue to me. His political career needs to be over.
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