Gary Condit
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Gary Adrian Condit (born April 21, 1948) is an American politician, a fiscally and socially conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat who served in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 2003. During his tenure in Congress, he was generally regarded as the most conservative of California's Democratic party delegation. He represented the 18th congressional district of California, the northern San Joaquin Valley. (When he was first elected, this district was the 15th District; it became the 18th district after redistricting following the 1990 census.)
Early Life and Career
A native of Oklahoma, Condit came with his wife and son to the San Joaquin Valley in the late 1960s. He graduated California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California. After a brief task in a public relations business, Condit was elected to the Ceres, California, City Council.
In 1974, Condit was elected mayor of Ceres, and from 1976 to 1982 was a member of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. In 1982, before he was elected to the California State Assembly.
While a member of the assembly, Condit was a member of the "Gang of Five." At the time, the Democrats (led by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown) held a 44-36 majority in the Assembly. It was rumored that the Gang of Five sought to ally with the Republicans, thereby setting up a 41-39 majority, and elect one of themselves as speaker, but this rumored effort failed.
Condit was elected to Congress in a 1989 special election, after House Democratic Whip Tony Coelho resigned in disgrace.
Chandra Levy Incident
In 2001, Condit became the subject of considerable news coverage, after Chandra Levy, a Washington, D.C. intern originally from Condit's district, disappeared. Condit, a married man, did not initially disclose that he had been involved in an ongoing affair with Ms. Levy.
While Condit was never an official suspect in the disappearance, Levy's family — and subsequently the national media — suspected that Condit was withholding important information about the intern's disappearance, or perhaps was involved more deeply in the case. Suspicion was deepened when Condit tried to avoid answering direct questions during a televised interview with news anchor Connie Chung on Aug. 23, 2001.
Levy's remains were discovered in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., and in May 2002, a medical examiner determined Levy's cause of death was homicide.
Condit lost the primary elections in March 2002 and left Congress at the end of his term in 2003.