www.justiceforchandra.com

[benn]

[jane]

quote from NewsMax

Tuesday Aug. 25, 2003; 12:29 p.m. EDT

Bustamante Team Includes Key Gary Condit Advisor

A key aide to former Congressman Gary Condit is now a top advisor to Democratic recall candidate, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

Richard Ross has worked for a number of prominent Democrats in California. But he first gained national attention during the Condit-Chandra Levy scandal, spinning week after week's worth of damaging revelations in a bid to save the California Democrat's career.

On Monday Ross found himself returning to the role he played for Condit for much of 2001 and 2002.

But this time the ace damage controller was trying to deflect questions about dubious fundraising practices employed by Bustamante's campaign, which has accepted $4 million in large sums from a handful of special-interest donors, including several California Indian tribes with ties to the casino industry.

Ross said Bustamante was taking advantage of a loophole that was entirely legal. ''We're abiding by [the campaign finance law] the way they wrote it,'' he told the San Jose Mercury News. ''If they want to change it, they need to change it.''

Ross' joining the Bustamante campaign may also be evidence of Condit's hidden hand in California politics.

Condit even considered running himself in the recall election -- but decided not to do so. If he had entered, Condit would have had a revenge motive against Gray Davis.

Davis and Condit had been very close, and Davis credited his first win for governor with Condit's endorsement and support.

Both of Davis children worked on Davis' Sacramento staff. And both quit during the Levy scandal -- when Davis betrayed his friendship with Condit and openly criticized the embattled Congressman.

Now Davis has to fear his fellow Democrats as the election closes in.
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[rd]

Interssting. I don't recall Richard Ross's name in any of the articles at the time. I did a search and came up with these references:

Washington Times Oct. 21, 2001
"Mr. Condit's political consultant, Richie Ross, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment."


UPI Oct. 3, 2001
" LOS ANGELES -- Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., appears to again be testing the waters in advance of a possible re-election campaign, despite the redrawing of his district's boundaries and the controversy over his relationship with missing intern Chandra Levy.
Condit's political consultant, Richard Ross, told the Los Angeles Times Condit this week began collecting signatures on a petition that would place him on the March 5 Democratic primary ballot.

And although California law would allow Condit to secure a spot on the ballot for a modest fee of $1,451, Ross told the Times Condit preferred to collect the necessary 3,000 signatures.

"Gary has always prided himself...on (qualifying) on the strength of petitions that are gathered by friends, neighbors and door-to-door," Ross told the Times, adding a schedule that includes public appearances by Condit would "evolve over the next month.""


LKL Aug. 31, 2001
"GERAGOS: Well, you sure hope so. You sure hope that initially that this thing would have been handled in such a way where there would have been a media strategy that was markedly different from this. But at the same time, there is a disconnect here. If this guy is so calculating, and if this is all done for his political career, and if it was so easy to just, as Chad said the other night, take the advice of the people who were telling him, whether it was Richie Ross or anybody else, come out and do a mea culpa, or to say the kind of formula words that Barbara and Nancy want him to say, and that would have ended that."

end quotes


This is in addition to the pollster Don Langman, whose son Chip worked for Condit before he quit and went back to California in the heat of Chandra's disappearance.

rd

[benn]

I was thinking of possibly voting for Bustamante, but now I think I will scratch that idea off. The politicians all have their old cronies, and the old cronies are much more important to the politicians than the voters.

"Both of Davis children worked on Davis' Sacramento staff. And both quit during the Levy scandal -- when Davis betrayed his friendship with Condit and openly criticized the embattled Congressman."

That quote above from Newsmax is sort of stupid also. "Davis betrayed his friendship with Condit --" How could Davis possibly have betrayed Condit when Condit had already betrayed himself,

So as usual there is no one worth voting for on the ballot, with the possible exception of Schwartneggar.

benn

[benn]

Good post, maggie.

Are we starting to get some drip. Drip, drip...

benn

[peripeteia]

Benn on the previous page, you quoted both of Davis children worked and quit, did you mean Condit's children?

Reading the articles about Richie Ross brings to mind Mr. Rich on the chandra forums, hummm???? Wonder if there one in the same?
_________________
A vision sent me on the path of seeking justice for Chandra, nothing I've seen in print to date has diminished the vividness but only served to reaffirm the validity of this vision.

[jane]

Hi Kate - I noticed that, too. The error is in the article (I checked). Apparently the author intended to say Condit's children.
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[benn]

fallout wrote:

[rd]

maggie, Richie Ross tried his darndest to get Condit to answer specific questions that showed he wasn't involved in her disappearance, and he warned Condit as stated above that that was the only way that Condit would survive politically, and still Condit refused to do it. In my opinion, he knew he couldn't answer those questions and thus he rejected all his highly paid advice and wrote his own letter. It was widely condemned along and his re-election went downhill from there. I preferred that he get re-elected so that the pressure to account for himself would continue and intensify, rather than just go away because he preferred to lose his Congressional seat rather than answer questions.

rd

[rd]

I checked on getting this site registered into Yahoo and Netscape internet directories so that Google would pick them up. I submitted the link a few weeks ago, and of course to Google as well. I checked back with Netscape directory tonight, and we are not listed yet. Maybe it's because they need an editor for the Chandra Levy section, I suppose. Anyway, here's the link, and the statement that a category editor is needed is at the bottom of the page:

http://www.dmoz.org/Society/People/Missing_People/Personals/Levy,_Chandra/

rd

[jane]

I just applied as editor for the Chandra Levy section!
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[benn]

That seems to be one of the formulas: " "cooperate with police and not speak publicly."

Just let the police do your coverup work for you.

Do the police really need all of that secrecy?

benn

[rd]

One thing for sure, maggie, Condit rejected his advice, and for that matter all his advisors except his children, Chad and Cadee. For some reason only he and his family decided that he couldn't answer questions about Chandra. I think there's a good reason for that. His advisors assumed he could explain himself, but Condit knows he can't.

rd

[rd]

Great, jane! It's a fairly large section compared to the other categories, the wouldn't be able to find a better person for the job.

rd

[jane]

Thanks, rd!
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ