By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 14, 2003; 8:48 AM
Just what the country needed: another Democrat who can't keep his zipper zipped.
And who was dumb enough to be messing around with a woman on the public payroll.
What was Bob Wise, the former congressman turned governor of West Virginia, thinking?
Does he remember Bill and Monica and what that did to the country, or did he somehow sleep through 1998?
Does he even remember Paul Patton, the Kentucky governor who last fall admitted an affair with a nursing home operator who said state regulators cracked down on her after she ended the relationship?
Of course, some Republicans do it too, as we saw when Rudy Giuliani very publicly strayed from his first lady back before 9/11 turned him into a national hero.
Why do politicians keep thinking they can get away with this sort of thing?
In any other situation, we'd say it's between Wise and his wife and his, uh, friend. But when your wife is the state's first lady, the situation is dramatically different.
And to fool around with someone getting taxpayer dollars – thereby opening yourself up to both official and journalistic scrutiny – is not too swift.
In a flash, the first-term governor – who's up for reelection next year – has put his career under a dark cloud. The only thing he seems to have learned from the Bill Clinton debacle is to fess up right away – not that he had any choice, since he was named in divorce papers filed by the Other Woman's husband.
The revelation seems to be sparking the same debate in West Virginia as we had during impeachment – whether or not this is just about sex, or a deeper public betrayal.
Here's how the Charleston Gazette covered the story:
"In a potentially catastrophic blow to his political career, Gov. Bob Wise released a statement Monday admitting he 'was not faithful to my family,' in response to allegations he had an extramarital affair with state employee Angela Mascia-Frye."
The Swiss-born woman is the $43,920-a-year director of European operations for the West Virginia Development Office. We didn't know the state had a foreign policy.
Now comes the blame-the-press part: "Yesterday the Charleston Daily Mail reported that [Philip] Frye's divorce petition alleges that his wife had an affair with another man. Frye confirmed that the man was Wise, the Daily Mail reported.
"In the article, Frye was quoted as referring to Wise as a 'weasel-faced bastard' and a 'typical Democrat.'"
Which is worse, by the way?
"Frye's attorney, Joe Cometti, later said Daily Mail reporters had made up many of Frye's quotes, including an assertion by Frye that he has pictures and other evidence of the affair collected by private investigators. 'Mr. Frye did not tell [the newspaper] that the governor had an affair with his wife, or committed adultery with his wife,' Cometti said. He accused the Daily Mail, which traditionally favors Republican politicians, of trying to bring down a Democratic governor. Daily Mail Editor Nanya Friend told The Associated Press on Monday that she stands by the story and the reporter."
The Charleston Daily Mail has this reaction piece:
"Gov. Bob Wise's apology for being unfaithful to his family became the talk of the town – and state – as people watched television news, listened to radio reports or read newspapers.
"Some said Wise's personal life is separate from his political career and should remain that way. 'We got our own Bill Clinton here,' said Travis Hill of Madison, who heard the news Monday evening on the way to a Charleston Alley Cats baseball game. 'That's his business. It's wrong, but a lot of people do it.'
"One state employee who did not want to give her name also compared Wise's actions to Clinton's. 'I couldn't care less when Clinton did it, and I couldn't care less now,' she said. 'As long as he's running government, that's all that matters.'
"Others believe the governor should take more responsibility than just admitting his unfaithfulness. Jack Jones, 68, said Wise should resign."
The Gazette follows the money:
"Mascia-Frye billed for overnight lodging in several cities seemingly within drivable distance from Charleston, including at least two nights at the Holiday Inn in Huntington, on Aug. 21 and Sept. 3. Wise's travel schedule shows that he was in Hancock and Greenbrier counties on Aug 21. On Sept. 3, he was scheduled to attend the Robert H. Mollohan Charitable Foundation reception and dinner in Bridgeport, but canceled the trip on the day of the event."
Maybe Wise, like Clinton, is just following in the footsteps of JFK:
"In an 815-page tome that dissects the Cuban missile crisis and assesses John Kennedy's record as a congressman, scholar Robert Dallek has tucked away history of another sort: JFK's presidential dalliances included an affair with a White House intern," says USA Today.
"A 'tall, slender, beautiful' college student worked in the White House press office for two summers, he writes in An Unfinished Life, though she couldn't type and had no discernible office skills.
"An account of the alleged affair was included in personal recollections recorded by Barbara Gamarekian, an aide in the Kennedy White House who later worked for The New York Times. . . .
"Such an affair would hardly have been out of character for Kennedy. Previous biographers have recounted Kennedy's womanizing over the years with, among others, his wife's press secretary, the mistress to a mob boss, a suspected German spy and various Hollywood stars and starlets."
Where did he find the time to deal with things like the Cuban missile crisis?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53818-2003May14.html