Media reports in Washington and California say that an arrest may be close in the slaying of the former federal intern whose disappearance ended Gary Condit's congressional career.
WRC in Washington and KGO, KFSN and KCRA in California say D.C. police are seeking an arrest warrant in Chandra Levy's death. The warrant would be for an inmate convicted of attacking two female joggers in the same Washington park where Levy's remains were found in 2002.
The 24-year-old Levy disappeared in May 2001.
The married Condit told police that he and Levy were having an affair. Police did not consider him a suspect, but the negative publicity was cited as the main cause of the California Democrat's re-election defeat in 2002.
In the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Gary Condit was a bigger topic in the news than was the still simmering controversy over the Supreme Court decision that gave George W. Bush the presidency, the Navy submarine with Bush campaign donors at the helm that sunk a Japanese fishing boat, or the U.S. spy plane that crashed in China. After all, what were two foreign policy disasters that in retrospect foreshadowed the ineptitude and venality of the entire Bush presidency when compared to a good old fashioned Congressional sex scandal? The old saying is that a Washington sex scandal always involves a dead girl or a live boy, and here we had the dead girl and a somewhat skeevy California (!!) Democratic Congressman with big capped teeth. Condit would seem to be an unlikely candidate for the kind of media buzzsaw in which he ended up mired, since he was actually a conservative Democrat, not the kind of "San Francisco Liberal" that we're accustomed to hearing about from the frothing gasbags of the right. But this was 2001, the Clinton scandals were recent history, and I think the media really missed having some good old-fashioned middle-aged-guy/young-chickie stuff to write about. Enter the corpse of Chandra Levy.
As it turned out, Condit did have an affair with young Ms. Levy, which makes him a lousy husband with a shitty moral code, but hardly the kind of criminal he was painted to be in the media, and when he ran for re-election, he lost and his political career was over.
Interestingly, there was another dead intern story cooking around the same time, one which received no mainstream press attention whatsoever:
Lori Klausutis had a seemingly happy life. A devoted husband who listed on his online homepage "being married to Lori" as one of the honors he enjoyed, a new home in Niceville and a Catholic congregation where she was a cantor and in whose choir she sang, were some of the elements of the Good Life she enjoyed. Her husband, Dr. Timothy Klausutis, did research and development for the munitions group at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, where he presumably made a good livelihood. Although Lori hailed from the Atlanta, Georgia area where she had attended school, there were numerous family members in the area. According to her obituary in the Fort Walton Daily News, Lori had served as President and, later, Treasurer, for the Emerald Coast Young Republicans and as a aide to Congressman Scarborough, she was active during the Florida recounts. A former neighbor, Barbara Cromer, said "Every morning, I would see her run while I walked. We'd wave to each other as we passed. I loved Lori so much. She was wonderful. She was a kind, generous person, so sweet.
Then, on Friday, July 20th, the body of Lori Klausutis, 28, was found slumped next to a desk on the floor of Florida Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach office where Lori had served as a constituent services coordinator since May, 1999. Her body was found around 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning by a couple arriving for an appointment. She had been dead for some time. A second employee, who would have normally arrived for work at around the same time, was away on vacation. Police cordoned off the area for investigation, later announcing that there was no reason to suspect foul play, nor were there signs of suicide.
Scarborough's office released a statement several hours after the discovery:"My staff and family are greatly saddened by the loss of Lori Klausutis. I know Lori will be missed by the thousands of citizens who regularly contact my office to seek assistance with a variety of problems. May God grant Lori's family the grace, comfort and hope that will get them through this difficult time."
The Congressman returned to Florida that same day, and his office was quick to point out that it was not unusual for him to fly home for the weekend.
There was a great deal of ambiguity over whether Lori had suffered past medical problems. Scarborough's press secretary, Miguel Serrano, made mention of health problems in Lori's past, but could not be more specific. In response, Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Steve Hogue is quoted as saying "That's part of our investigation, checking into her medical history." Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Berkland said "She had a past medical history that was significant, but it remains to be seen whether that played a role in her death". Soon after a member of the immediate family rejected out of hand that Lori had any significant medical problems. She was, in fact, quite an athlete, having recently run an 8K with a very respectable time and she belonged to the Northwest Florida Track Club.
The results of the mandated autopsy, however, were deemed "inconclusive" by Dr. Berkland, who ordered more specific toxicology tests. These results were expected by the middle of the following week, around the first or second day of August. Dr. Berkland commented at the time "This turns over several puzzle pieces in the case of her death and reveals more of the picture".
Welcome to the Wheel of Fortune.
Michael Berkland, it turns out, has a very interesting background himself. Recently relocated to Florida, it is a matter of public record that Dr. Berkland's medical license in the state of Missouri was revoked in 1998 as a result of Berkland reporting false information regarding brain tissue samples in a 1996 autopsy report. Berkland does not deny the charges.
It's also a matter of public record that he was suspended from his position as Medical Examiner in the State of Florida in July, 1999.
Quincy, he's not.
Repeated requests to Dr. Stephen Nelson, Chairman of the Medical Examiners Commission, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, have failed to verify that Dr. Berkland's suspension was lifted and that his licensure and disciplinary record are clear at the present time. Dr. Nelson was appointed Chairman of the Commission by Governor Jeb Bush.
As for Lori Klausutis, rumors began to swirl as time passed with no resolution to the case, rumors that included whispers of suicide, some emanating from inside the Beltway. Family members, angered at what they considered unfair and exploitive coverage wrote the editor of the Northwest Florida Daily News, Ralph Routon, saying "For those who knew Lori, the thought of suicide, as your published reports suggested, is absolutely unthinkable. Suicide was contrary to her faith and being. She did not suffer from seizures, nor did she have a history of medical problems." Meanwhile, the final report has been issued that Lori died as a result of a blow to the head because an undiagnosed heart condition caused her to collapse and fall, hitting her head on the desk.
The initial reports from the Medical Examiner's office denied any trauma to the body that would indicate cause of death. But Berkland acknowledged on Monday, August 6th, that Lori had sustained a "scratch and a bruise" on her head and that his original denials were to prevent undue speculation about the cause of death. "The last thing we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury", he said.
And so, what we have here is the death of a healthy young woman who died of a blow to the head and a lie from the Medical Director's office about this blow which was quite obvious to the naked eye. They then had to go search for some reason why she might have "fallen" and hit her head. And they have found an "undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia". But a number of questions remain to be answered, and we have requested opinions from Dr. Nelson, the Chairman of the Medical Examiners Commission.
It's worth reading the full account of the Klausutis mystery, especially in light of the vastly different way a Democratic Congressman was treated. It should also be noted that Joe Scarborough had abruptly decided to leave Congress barely two months earlier, and it should equally be noted that in 2003, Scarborough, now the morning host and Chief Obama-Basher at MSNBC, joked about Klausutis' death on Don Imus' radio program:
Conservative MSNBC news host Joe Scarborough was a guest on MSNBC's Imus show last Thursday, May 29. In complementing Scarborough on his sense of humor, Imus said, 'Don't be afraid to be funny, because you are funny. I asked you why you aren't in Congress. You said that you had sex with the intern and then you had to kill her.' To which Scarborough laughed, 'Yeah, ha, ha ha, well, what are you gonna do?
More about the Klausutis case here.
So once there is an arrest in the Levy case, does Gary Condit get an apology from the media? Somehow I doubt it.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire