Posted on 09/07/2001 4:04:07 PM PDT by Libloather
Friday September 7 4:33 PM ET
Condit Office: No Decision on Reelection
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Gary Condit, snared in a summer-long drama stemming from the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy, has made no decision on whether he will seek re-election next year, his chief of staff, Michael Lynch, said on Friday.
Lynch denied an NBC News report on Friday that the California Democrat had decided to retire from Congress at the end of his current term.
But Lynch declined comment on a report in The Washington Post that quoted unidentified Democrats as saying Condit told them he was leaning toward not seeking another term.
``This is what I will say,'' Lynch said. ``I talked to Gary this morning and he said he has not made a decision.''
``The status is the same as it was when he did the Connie Chung interview (on ABC on Aug. 23) and said he would talk to his family, people in his district and then proceed from there,'' Lynch said in a telephone interview from the congressman's district office in Modesto, California.
Condit has been dogged by questions about his reported relationship with Levy, 24, who vanished on April 30. Police have said that Condit is not a suspect in the Levy case.
Many Democrats have said they see Condit as politically damaged, perhaps fatally so. But they have also said his political future must be decided by himself, his family and his constituents.
Condit aides said previously he planned to seek reelection, but his son, Chad Condit, said in an interview last week on CNN's ``Larry King Live'' that he did not want his father to run again.
Aides to Democratic congressional leaders said on Friday they had received no word from Condit on his political future. If he decides to run again, he must file his candidacy by Dec. 7.
NBC News on Friday quoted sources identified as close to Condit as saying he has decided not to run but would withhold an announcement until after the California legislature completes its session at the end of next week.
California legislators are putting finishing touches on a statewide congressional redistricting plan. The measure would redraw the lines of Condit's district that some have said would make it highly difficult for him to win another term.
Lynch challenged this claim on Friday, saying, ``This is a district that, in all honesty, will stand any Democrat in good stead.''
The Washington Post on Friday quoted sources as saying Condit raised the prospect of his retirement over the August recess in the course of regular talks with Democrats about California's redistricting process.
Lynch expressed frustration as well as amusement with the reports on Condit's possible retirement.
``Today is another one of these media flurries, and like many of them, we don't know where they come from,'' Lynch said.
On another Condit front on Friday, officials in Stanislaus County, California, said a county grand jury had reached a decision on a request that it investigate allegations that Condit obstructed justice when he asked flight attendant Anne Marie Smith to sign an affidavit denying they had an affair.
Marnie Ardis, a county official who handles grand jury matters, said the decision would be mailed in a letter to Smith's lawyers.
Why!!! What would you blackmail him with. The only thing he could be blackmailed with is absolute proof that he has never had sex with an intern, didn't kill Chandra and has been true to his wife.
Everything other accusation has been on the news for months.
If there is one member of the committee that is blackmail proof, it is Condit.
Looks like all other networks heard the same thing (except CBS?); what's Mikey L. got against Fox-HAHA!
Loved the way Rita Cosby talked about Mike Dayton denying this story; she reiterated that Lynch is the one that told her repeatedly Condit did not have an affair with Chandra.
OK, if you say so little Dickie Gephart.
Really? What if someone had proof that Condit killed Chandra or was otherwise criminally involved?
You don't think that would grab his attention?
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