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American Morning

Condit Speaks Out: How Will Constituents and General Public React?

Aired August 23, 2001 - 10:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to spend some time now talking about a congressman long under siege and his P.R. blitz which has just begun.

Tonight, Gary Condit sits down for his first television network interview since being ensnared in the media frenzy surrounding the disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy. But before Condit goes on air, his story will first hit home in his congressional district.

CNN's Sacramento affiliate KOVR-TV has obtained a copy of the letter that will arrive in Central California mailboxes today. In it, Condit tells his constituents: "Despite my best attempts to help the police find Chandra, some in the media have criticized me for remaining silent. I have not been silent with those in charge of finding Chandra."

The letter continues: "When tabloids turned the tragedy of Chandra's disappearance into a spectacle and rumors were reported as facts, I decided that I would not discuss my private life in the media. Some suggest that not talking with the media could mean I had something to do with Chandra's disappearance. I did not. I pray that she has not met the same fate as the other young women who have disappeared from the same neighborhood."

Those letters were mailed out yesterday -- Congressman Condit paid for that mass mailing with personal funds, rather than out of his office's budget.

Now the reaction among those people who will ultimately decide Condit's political future -- CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Modesto, which is the heart of Condit's home district -- Rusty, good morning, again.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Stephen.

And the heart of the 18th District is Agriculture. The farmers here grow everything from tomatoes, almonds, peaches. And we're here at farmer's market in Modesto, which takes place on Thursdays and Saturdays.

It's still a little early here. People are just up. And there's a few people shopping. And, of course, the letter now will not be going out for probably another hour and a half, that the post office will be delivering three-page letter to the mailboxes of the constituents here, over 200,000 in the area.

But we did give a peek to a few people this morning. And one of the people we gave a peek to is Lisa Stewart, whose family has been farming here for three generations since the 1930s.

LISA STEWART, CONDIT CONSTITUENT: Correct.

DORNIN: Lisa, your family has been strong supporters of Congressman Condit.

STEWART: Very strong. He's always been good to agriculture.

DORNIN: And how do you feel about him after reading this letter?

STEWART: Well, I don't -- I guess I expected more substance. It didn't really say a lot that people didn't know. And we know everything the letters has to say. And there was one thing that caught my -- in quotations, the world "silent." He has been -- he's been cooperating with the officials, but he's been silent to us.

And that is really disappointing because we've always been there to support him, and he's been well liked throughout the agriculture community. And to not come out and speak to us is very disappointing.

DORNIN: If you had one question, if you were going to be the interviewer today, and you had one question that you could ask the congressman, what would that be after all this time?

STEWART: You forgot about us. Why haven't you come out to see us? Because he's always been so good on the streets, helping people with questions. But he's been gone. He's missing. And no one has been able to even have a clue as to what's going on.

DORNIN: Would you vote for him?

STEWART: Oh, no, I don't think I would. It's hard to say, but I don't think so.

DORNIN: OK. Lisa Stewart, thank you very much for joining us. From a longtime agricultural family here, longtime supporters of Congressman Condit, she along with a lot of other people very anxious to hear what he has to say.

But some people have already told us this morning they feel that this letter is a little bit vague and is not answering enough questions, and hope that these interviews will answer a lot more -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Rusty Dornin, we are glad to hear from the congressman's constituents. Rusty, thank you very much -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, it's most important what the constituents have to say today. But the entire country -- across much of the country, people will be listening in to what the congressman has to say tonight.

With more on that, let's go to New York City and our Jason Carroll, who is talking to folks on the streets there -- hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Daryn.

I know a lot of the attention has been on the Statue of Liberty. But I want to switch your focus now to Midtown New York, to Times Square, one of the busiest places on Earth. And the reason why we're just a little north of Times Square is because we knew this would be a place where would find no shortage of people and opinions about Congressman Condit and his interview tonight.

I'm going to start out with Chris (ph). We've got Chris. We've got Debora (ph) and Paul (ph) here. All three of them have been gracious to stop and talk with us this morning.

Chris, I'm going to start with you. You know the interview is going to be happening later today. First of all, are you going to watch?

CHRIS: I may catch the end of it. I am going to out to dinner early. But, if not, I am going to catch the replays and hear what he has to say.

CARROLL: What are you expecting him to say that you haven't heard him say before?

CHRIS: I really don't think he's going to say much that he hasn't. So I think it's a little late for him. He should have had this interview, I think, four or five or seven weeks ago, not 100 and some odd days into this mishap.

CARROLL: OK, I'm going to move onto to your partner here. This is Debora.

Thanks again for joining us, Debora.

Anything that you would like to ask Congressman Condit if you were conducting the interview? What would you ask?

DEBORA: I think my main question would be: why the urgency now? He should have called a press conference from the onset when this story first broke about four or five months. That's what I'm curious to know: why the urgency?

CARROLL: OK, Paul, once again, are you planning to watch the interview tonight?

PAUL: Yes, I think I will watch it tonight. I want to see the guy squirm.

CARROLL: OK.

Anything that you would ask him if you were conducting the interview?

PAUL: Well, I would ask him -- like Debora said, it is a little too late. And why this time? Why wait until now?

CARROLL: All right, thanks very much. We want to thank you all three of you for joining us again.

Once again, no shortage of opinions right here in New York -- Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Jason, thank you so much.

Stay with us for more on this continuing story. A few minutes from now we're going to hear from a Washington correspondent for Condit's hometown newspaper, "The Modesto Bee." And tonight, we're going to have a special report on reaction to Condit's televised interview. That's at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 Pacific.

We're going to take a break right now and be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: More now on our top story: Gary Condit's move to repair his relationship with constituents. CNN has obtained the letter that voters in Condit's district are receiving from him today. We're going to read it now in its entirety:

"Dear friends and neighbors, Chandra Levy has been missing for nearly four months. I'm sorry that the pain in the Levy family and Chandra's friends are feeling has grown worse with each passing day.

"When Chandra's dad called me to tell me she was missing, he asked for my help. I contacted the police to see if a reward fund would help find her. They said it would. So I helped start one.

"Since that day, and every day since, I have cooperated and worked with law enforcement to find Chandra. I invited the police to my apartment. I asked the FBI to help.

"Despite my best attempts to help the police find Chandra, some in the media have criticized me for remaining 'silent.' I have not been silent with those in charge of finding Chandra. I have answered every single question asked by the police and FBI.

"When tabloids turned the tragedy of Chandra's disappearance into a spectacle and rumors were reported as facts, I decided that I would not discuss my private life in the media.

"Some suggest that not talking with the media could mean I had something to do with Chandra's disappearance. I did not. I pray that she has not met the same fate as the other young women who have disappeared from the same neighborhood.

"I will be interviewed on television. And, hopefully, I will be able to answer questions that help people understand. It is not something that I look forward to, but things have gone on long enough.

"Before speaking to the media, I wanted to write to you. I have known so many of you for a long time. You know me to be hard working, committed to our issues and dedicated to my community and my family. I hope you also will understand that I am not perfect and have made my share of mistakes.

"For 30 years as a local mayor, county supervisor, state assemblyman and congressman, thousands of people have come to me with their personal problems: a son in trouble, a mother in a nursing home, a job that was lost, a farm going broke, a mortgage that couldn't be paid. And each time, people trusted that I would treat their problems with care.

"I hope our relationship is strong enough to endure all of this. For now, I want my work in Congress to improve our communities. Please know that you can still bring me your concerns and your problems."

And he concludes, "Thank you for the kindness you have shown Carolyn and my family.

"Sincerely, Gary Condit."

FRAZIER: Let's get some reaction on that letter now from one of the hometown newspapers that has called for Congressman Condit's resignation.

Mike Doyle is a Washington correspondent with "The Modesto Bee." And he joins us from our Washington bureau.

Mr. Doyle, thank you for joining us again. Good to see you again.

MIKE DOYLE, "MODESTO BEE": Good morning.

FRAZIER: What do you think of this letter? Will this save Mr. Condit's political life?

DOYLE: Well, I don't think any one action will save anyone's life.

What I think about the letter is, it's a good road map for what to look for tonight. I capture four themes out of it that we'll probably hear repeated in the interview this evening.

One is, pin the blame on the media, with the references to the tabloid spectacle. One is the assertion of full cooperation with the police. One is the carving of a moat around his private life. And one is the use of constructive ambiguity, with references to not being perfect, but with no explanation for what those imperfections are.

FRAZIER: It sounds like you believe this is very carefully crafted to deflect attention from his own actions.

DOYLE: Well, I don't know if it's so much to deflect attention from his own actions. Certainly, he is drawing attention to his 30 years of political work. He's drawing attention as well to the tabloid spectacle, which it certainly has been. And he's also drawing attention, drawing readers' attention to the fact that he makes the reference to the disappearance of other women in Chandra Levy's neighborhood, with is sort of an oblique reference to the fact that that may have been the cause of her disappearance. I think, clearly, he wants to maintain the agenda tonight. And I think the interviewer's goal is to try to get him to answer her questions.

FRAZIER: The constituents we have interviewed so far this morning deconstruct this almost as closely as you have. And I'm sure -- they say that what they have always wanted to do is hear from the congressman. Will this be enough to answer their unspoken questions?

DOYLE: No, I don't believe it is. But I think the congressman's political team is aware that this effort to rehabilitate his reputation is by no means a one-day affair -- not a one-day affair. The cover of the magazine in "People" coming out tomorrow will not be enough.

They recognize that this will be a matter of weeks, if not months, to restore him into the good graces of his constituents. So this letter was not seen as a quick fix, but it was an opening step. And from what Rusty Dornin was reporting, it's clearly going to have to be built upon.

FRAZIER: If this is the kind of campaign you are describing here now, let's talk about where he chose to open the campaign, with "People" magazine, with Connie Chung. Anything come to your mind about those choices?

DOYLE: Well, I think that they were clearly looking to reach different audiences. Connie Chung -- he felt that he could be comfortable with her. And she does have a reputation as a solid journalist.

"People" magazine I think is reaching the mass market. "Newsweek" has a reputation for solid journalism, obviously. He declined to speak to the "Bee" newspapers. And the apparent reason is -- or the certain reason is that he was unhappy with our editorials calling upon him to resign. And so he seemed to go with those media organizations that he would feel comfortable with, but that would also meet both the local and the national constituency for the story.

FRAZIER: Have all the local media called for him to resign, the local papers?

DOYLE: No. "The Modesto Bee" and "The Fresno Bee," which are the largest papers in his district, of course have. The "Ceres Courier," which is his hometown, did. There are other newspapers, the "Merced Sun-Star," the "Turlock Journal," others, which have not -- nor, to my knowledge, have radio stations or TV networks.

And the station in Sacramento, KOVR, which has the rights to the Condit interview local TV, has not made any such call.

FRAZIER: But because of that editorial seeking his resignation, then, he is making no attempt to talk to you.

DOYLE: Well, he's making every attempt not to talk to us. His staff has always been quite open with us -- refreshingly so -- while the congressman's view in this case is, he doesn't -- well, he doesn't talk to us. We don't know his full explanation. But, apparently, he doesn't feel comfortable sitting down with a paper that called upon him to resign.

He does have a history of hunkering down in times of stress. He stopped talking to our reporter in Sacramento. He stopped talking to me for many years because of his unhappiness. And now he has resumed that practice. But his staff generally tends to be open. And over the course of time, he tends to start talking as well.

FRAZIER: "For many years," you mentioned, Mike Doyle. Was there something else in your reporting that has offended the congressman?

DOYLE: Well, actually, his staff and advisers tell me that my reporting and the paper's reporting in general has been a model of thoroughness and accuracy. Earlier on in 1989, when he joined Congress, he felt that I was not being fair to him. And for all I know, probably I wasn't in some respects.

But he concluded that it would be best for him and easiest to not talk to me. And it went on for about five years. His staff continued talking to me in that time. And gradually he decided that he would talk to me once more.

FRAZIER: Well, we are grateful that you are talking with us, Mike Doyle, of "The Modesto Bee." Thank you for your comments this morning.

DOYLE: Thank you.

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