Focus again on Condit

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JULY 22. With the case of the 24 year old missing intern soon to enter the third month, the authorities are simply clueless as to what could have happened to Ms. Chandra Levy. In the last several days, the police have been looking at the heavily wooded areas of the Rock Creek Park and other parts of the District of Columbia. And the search of abandoned buildings and homes has turned up nothing. And the interviewing of persons in the neighbourhood of where Ms. Levy stayed has been intensified.

The Democratic Congressman, Mr. Gary Condit, of Modesto, California, who belatedly admitted having a romantic relationship with Ms. Levy continues to be under intense scrutiny by the media and by authorities as well. For the record, the police have been maintaining from the very beginning that Mr. Condit is not a suspect in the disappearance of the young lady.

There have been media reports that the FBI has made the determination that the records of the polygraph taken privately by Mr. Condit are practically worthless; and the District Police has made it known all along that they would rather have the FBI administer the lie detector test. In fact, authorities were baffled that Mr. Condit's lawyers gave the results of the private test even as negotiations were going on.

Mr. Condit, in the last two days, has come under focus for a different reason: why it was he dumped a watch box into a trash can in Virginia, just hours prior to the police search of his apartment. The police have been quoted as saying that the watch box had nothing to do with Ms. Levy; and there has been a suggestion that the California Democrat may have had another affair and merely getting rid of a box that came with a gift.

What is also being said now is that the police would like to talk to the Congressman for a fourth time.

It was only in his third meeting that Mr. Condit acknowledged of an affair with Ms. Levy who was nearly 30 years younger to him. And there have been reports of other affairs the Congressman is said to have had. Federal authorities have interviewed an airline stewardess who had a relationship with Mr. Condit to see if she was asked to lie about the affair and not cooperate with the FBI.

Mr. Condit is married with two children and comes from a district that is traditionally conservative. In the last election, he won with 70 per cent of the vote. The question now is whether Mr. Condit's political future has been severely hurt with many Conservative Republicans and Democrats eyeing this seat in November 2002.

As a Conservative Democrat, Mr. Condit had criticised the former President, Mr. Bill Clinton, for being less than forthcoming at the time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Now the tables have been turned against Mr. Condit with the same perception - that he is unwilling to lay it all out and in an open fashion.

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Section  : International
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