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Calif. governor faults Condit over Levy probe

Davis
Davis  


SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Dealing a political blow to a friend, California Gov. Gray Davis Monday criticized Rep. Gary Condit for not speaking out "more quickly or more fully" about his relationship to a missing former government intern.

Noting that Condit's two adult children worked for him and that he has worked with Condit for years, Davis began his remarks on a somber note.

"What I'm about to say doesn't bring me any joy whatsoever," he told reporters at an unrelated bill signing ceremony in Woodland, outside Sacramento.

"I didn't see the interview, so my information comes from news accounts and transcripts of the interview, but I am disheartened that Congressman Condit did not speak out more quickly or more fully," Davis said.

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The comments from the state's highest-ranking politician and top Democrat are bad news for Condit, who has been under fire because of his relationship with 24-year-old Chandra Levy and his conduct during the investigation into her disappearance.

Several lawmakers, mostly Republicans, and California newspapers have called for Condit's resignation.

Levy was last reported seen April 30 in Washington where she had recently finished an internship at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Her family has said she was romantically involved with Condit, and law enforcement sources have said Condit admitted an affair to Washington police. Condit has said publicly that Levy was only a friend.

Davis did not offer any endorsement of Condit, joining a growing list of Democrats who appear to be distancing themselves from him.

"I don't have any specific advice for the congressman. What he should or shouldn't do are matters best left to him and his constituents," Davis said. The Levy family should be the media's focus, "not on the political implications or fallout of this event," he added.

Earlier Monday, the attorney for a woman who claims she had an affair with Condit asked a grand jury to indict the California Democrat and two aides on charges of suborning perjury and obstruction of justice.

Anne Marie Smith, 39, claims to have had a yearlong affair with Condit. She says the 53-year-old married congressman tried to get her to sign a sworn statement in June that said they had not had a relationship.

"We're talking about a crime here. All people are equal before the law," Smith's attorney, Jim Robinson, told CNN Monday before filing the paperwork in court in Stanislaus County.

"California allows a victim of a crime -- in this sense, the crime is suborning perjury -- to go directly to a grand jury through the foreman of the grand jury and request a criminal indictment directly," he said.

Robinson said he intended to ask for indictments of Condit, Mike Lynch, his chief of staff, and Don Thornton, an investigator working for a Condit lawyer in California.

In an interview Thursday with ABC, Condit denied having a relationship with Smith and said Smith had "taken advantage of this tragedy."

Smith's claim of an affair with Condit could figure into the Levy case, because Smith claims Condit asked her to lie about their relationship after Levy's disappearance became news.

Anne Marie Smith
Anne Marie Smith claims to have had a yearlong affair with Condit.  

At a news conference Monday, Robinson and co-counsel Sterling Norris -- who is affiliated with the group Judicial Watch -- said Lynch "initiated a call" to Smith in which he asked her to call Thornton. The men, according to Smith's attorney, wanted her to sign the affidavit. She refused.

"Several times after that, Gary Condit called Anne Marie on the telephone trying to get her to sign that affidavit, that false affidavit," Norris said.

In the past several days, Condit has given a series of interview by which he hoped to calm the political waters. That has not happened as numerous lawmakers and political pundits, including Democrats, criticized Condit as evasive in his answers about Levy.

The Modesto Bee, the leading newspaper in his California district, this weekend repeated its call for Condit to resign. Several Republican lawmakers did the same Sunday.

In his latest interview with Newsweek magazine, Condit blamed the news media for at least some of his troubles.

"The press has sort of made this into a soapbox scandal ... to keep their ratings up," an angry Condit declared in the September 3 issue of Newsweek, released Monday.

A CNN poll of 501 adults in Condit's Modesto area district indicated the congressman's troubles are costing him support.

The poll, conducted Friday and Saturday, indicated a majority of those who voted for him last year would vote against him in 2002, with just 40 percent of Condit voters from 2000 saying they would vote to re-elect him.



Greta@LAW




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