Posted on 01/12/2003 6:58:48 AM PST by Theodore R.
I found this article from the Hearst News Service. I wonder if this is truly the reason Combest resigned.
Sources: Wife's dispute with employer led to Combest'sdecision on early retirement By Dan Freedman
Hearst Newspaper Service
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Larry Combest, R-Texas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, decided to resign from Congress because of a bitter dispute between his wife and her employer, a suburban Washington medical practice, according to two persons close to Combest.
Combest, 57, announced his departure from Congress on Nov. 12, a week after he easily won re-election to his 10th term in office.
His abrupt resignation struck many in his Texas district as mysterious because it came a week after Election Day and his resignation statement cited only vague personal reasons for quitting. Combest has declined numerous requests for an interview.
"We stand by the press release" issued Nov 12, Dirk Fillpot, Combest's spokesman, said Friday. "We have no interest in elaborating on it."
Sources familiar with Combest's decision say that his wife Sharon's troubles with her employer, Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates of suburban Annandale, Va., proved to be the last of a series of personal setbacks that shaped Combest's decision to return to his hometown of Lubbock.
Combest's father, Nelson, died last June at age 88. Three years ago, Combest's daughter by a previous marriage, Tonya, died while undergoing emergency surgery in Miami.
In his Nov. 12 statement, Combest said: "There have been a number of events that have happened to Sharon and me in the last year that have made us realize how fragile life and health are.
"They certainly caused us to rearrange our priorities, and we want to spend as much time together while we have our life and health."
Combest's aides and friends say there is no evidence that either Larry or Sharon Combest have health problems.
One person knowledgeable about Combest's thinking said Sharon Combest's dispute with colleagues at the surgical practice touched off the decision to go back to Lubbock.
"Sharon is definitely the reason," said the source, who asked not to be identified.
Sharon Combest served as the group's office manager until her departure this past summer, the source added.
She had worked at the medical practice since last year, according to congressional financial disclosure forms.
This person and another person familiar with the situation said the dispute involved allegations of mental and physical abuse but not sexual harassment.
Larry Combest has discussed a possible settlement with the attorney for the medical office, they said.
Sharon Combest's sister, Karen Smith of Harlingen, confirmed the dispute led to Combest's decision to leave Congress. She declined to go into detail because the conflict "could be in litigation" in the future.
In a Nov. 17 letter to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Karen Smith and her husband, Ray Smith, praised Larry Combest "for being a Christian brother-in-law who would give up a wonderful career to stand beside Sharon ... who was the one person who supported (Combest) sacrificially (throughout his) political career."
Physicians at the medical office declined to talk about the case, according to Irene Heinemeier, who succeeded Sharon Combest as office manager on Sept. 30.
Because Larry Combest's term as Agriculture Committee chairman doesn't expire until 2004, his early departure from such a powerful job appeared all the more surprising.
Having apparently decided last summer to leave the House, the congressman then faced the question of how best to time his departure.
Under Texas law, it was too late for Texas Republicans to come up with another candidate and get that person's name on the ballot.
By staying in the race, Combest assured the seat remained in Republican control in the November election where control of the House was expected to be a close call.
On Nov. 5, Combest rolled up 92 percent of the vote against Libertarian candidate Larry Johnson, who got 8 percent. No Democrat was on the ballot.
Johnson later complained the timing of the Combest resignation undercut his candidacy.
"If he knew he was going to resign, he should have just gone ahead and left before the election," said Johnson. "To wait 'til after the election to resign leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. Voters were the ones who were really hurt."
In his Nov. 12 statement, Combest said his resignation will be effective May 31. Texas Gov. Rick Perry can call a special election to pick a successor on the next statewide election day, which is May 3.
By moving back to Lubbock, Combest will pass up an opportunity that has lured many of his high-powered colleagues to develop Potomac fever: The prospect of getting rich as a Washington lobbyist.
As a former committee chairman schooled in the intricacies of farm legislation, Combest could have had his pick of lucrative job offers.
"A lot of firms would be willing to pay top dollar to someone like that," said Tom Korologos, a veteran lobbyist. "A chairman is always a prime candidate. They bring instant stature and status -- and clients. That means a lot of firms would be interested."
The Combests already own a home in Lubbock. Combest has not said what he will do upon his return.
During a 17-year career on Capitol Hill, Combest built a reputation as a quiet, hard-working lawmaker who always kept the needs of his predominantly agricultural district in sharp focus.
Although a reliable conservative vote for lower taxes and less government, he used his chairman's position to guide through a $180-billion farm bill filled with crop subsidies for Texas panhandle cotton farmers, among others.
His resignation came as "a bolt out of the blue," said Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee whose north Texas district abuts Combest's.
Stenholm said he has not talked to Combest about his decision to retire. Still, Stenholm observed, "after the farm bill (passed in May), Larry wasn't his usual self. He began to totally disengage from the legislative process."
Combest, according to Stenholm, "missed votes, and I'd never seen him miss votes. And he left early for the August break. These are all things that in hindsight indicated that something was changing."
Funny, I always thought the solution to abusive employers was to quit, not litigate. Guess I don't think enough like a lawyer.
It will be a Lubbock v. Midland/Odessa election.
It just seems so unlikely that a dispute between his wife and his wife's employer could become so serious that some other action wouldn't have intervened.
There is no business in Fairfax that does not depend on government employees' business. Most of a doctor's patients would have their bills paid by a government policy. Visits from the government's insurance carriers would have quickly convinced any doctor.
She could have quit and easily been employed elsewhere. Heck, she could have started taking bribes like Dashole's wife.
No, this is very strange and this explanation is not very satisfying.
I'll bet it would not have been too late for a Democrat in New Jersey.
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