Editing Gary Condit (section)

== Political career ==
Condit began his career on the Ceres city council from 1972 to 1976—the last two years as [[mayor]]. He became the youngest mayor in the city's history at the age of 25. Condit served on the [[Stanislaus County]] [[Board of Supervisors]] from 1976 to 1982, and was elected to the [[California State Assembly]] in 1982.

=== California State Assembly ===
In 1988, Condit was a member of the "Gang of Five"{{snd}}with [[Charles M. Calderon]] of [[Whittier, California|Whittier]], [[Gerald R. Eaves]] of [[Rialto, California|Rialto]], [[Rusty Areias]] of [[Los Banos, California|Los Banos]] and [[Steve Peace]] of [[Chula Vista, California|Chula Vista]]<ref name="AFP">[http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1602/Richardson/Richardson.html "Willie Brown: The Members' Speaker"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607150851/http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1602/Richardson/Richardson.html |date=June 7, 2007 }} by James D. Richardson, 1994. ''APF Reporter Vol. 16 No. 2.'' Accessed December 19, 2006.</ref>{{snd}}that failed to unseat [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]] as Speaker of the State Assembly by making a deal with [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]. Peace co-wrote and produced the 1988 film ''[[Return of the Killer Tomatoes]]'', in which Condit appeared in an uncredited non-speaking cameo during a fight sequence.<ref name="Gun">[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/condit1.html "Archive: Condit 1"] Undated, 2001. [[The Smoking Gun]] archives. Accessed December 19, 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gary Condit Resignation letter |url=https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/DailyJournal/1989/Volumes/8990vol1_6.pdf#page=5229 |website=clerk.assembly.ca.gov}}</ref>

=== U.S. House of Representatives ===
Condit was elected to [[United States Congress|Congress]] in 1989 in a [[Elections in California|special election]] after the resignation of House Democratic Whip [[Tony Coelho]]. He was elected to a full term in 1990, and reelected five more times without serious difficulty (Condit had no Republican challenger during the general elections of 1992 and 1998). His most important committee assignment was as a senior member on the [[House Intelligence Committee]] in the months and years prior to the [[September 11 attacks]]. Like most Democrats from the [[Central Valley, California|Central Valley]], Condit was somewhat more conservative than other Democrats from California. Being a [[Blue Dog Coalition|Blue Dog]] Democrat, Condit voted against [[President of the United States|President]] [[Bill Clinton]] more frequently than other members of his party in the chamber.<ref name="Salon0714">[http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/07/14/sacramento/index.html "Stunned in Sacramento"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318222326/http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/07/14/sacramento/index.html |date=2006-03-18 }} by Anthony York, July 14, 2001. ''Salon'' Magazine (online). Accessed December 19, 2006.</ref> Condit took several populist progressive positions such as opposing [[NAFTA]] despite intense lobbying from his own district's wine industry and President Clinton himself, voted against the landmark repeal of [[Glass-Steagall Act|Glass-Steagall]] protections,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll276.xml|title=Final Vote Results for Roll Call 276|date=July 1, 1999}}</ref> and against the [[Iraq War]] and [[Kosovo War|intervention in Kosovo]].<ref>{{cite news |title=2 House Votes Point to Lack of Support for Balkan Action |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-29-mn-32235-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=April 29, 1999}}</ref> In the aftermath of Kosovo, Condit was a persistent force in compelling the prosecution of [[Slobodan Miloševic]].<ref name="garycondit.org">{{Cite web|url=https://garycondit.org/#about-gary|title=Congressman Gary Condit - Official Homepage|website=garycondit.org}}</ref>{{better source needed |date=August 2020 |reason=should be able to source this from a site unaffiliated with the article subject}}

In 1998, during the [[Monica Lewinsky]] scandal, Condit publicly demanded that Clinton "come clean" on his relationship with the young woman; a video of this demand was aired almost daily during Condit's own scandal involving a relationship with [[Bureau of Prisons]] intern [[Chandra Levy]].<ref name="JJ">[https://jewishjournal.com/news/nation/4600/ "Chandra Levy's Jewish Angle"] by James D. Besser, July 20, 2001. ''Jewish Journal.'' Accessed December 18, 2006.</ref> Following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], interest in the Levy case declined.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/specials/chandra/ch10_1.html "Who Killed Chandra Levy?"] Washington Post. July 23, 2008. Accessed Aug. 2008.</ref> Condit kept his seat on the Intelligence Committee, retained his security clearance, and was one of a small number of members of Congress who were cleared to see the most sensitive information on the 9/11 attacks. On December 7, 2001, Condit announced he would run for re-election. He lost the Democratic primary election in March 2002 to his former aide, then-Assemblyman [[Dennis Cardoza]], and left Congress at the end of his term in January 2003.<ref name="NYT0306">{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/06/us/condit-loses-house-race-to-former-aide.html | title=Condit Loses House Race to Former Aide| newspaper=The New York Times| date=March 6, 2002| last1=Nieves| first1=Evelyn}}</ref> Condit's most notable vote in his last months in office was the resolution to expel Congressman [[James Traficant]] after his conviction on corruption charges. In the 420–1 vote on July 24, 2002, Condit was the sole "nay".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/11/weekinreview/roll-call-standouts-or-bumps-on-the-congressional-log.html | work=The New York Times | first=John D. | last=Thomas | title=Roll Call Standouts, or Bumps on the Congressional Log | date=August 11, 2002}}</ref>

===Levy scandal===
[[File:JimWiederReporting.jpg|thumb|Reporters with Condit, August 17, 2001]]
In 2001, Condit became the subject of national news coverage after the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a young woman working as a [[Washington, D.C.]], intern, originally from Condit's district. Police questioned Condit twice, and both times he denied having an extramarital affair with her; however, Levy's aunt eventually went public with conversations she had with her about their relationship. Police questioned Condit a third time, and he confessed to the affair.<ref name="CNN-profile">[http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/condit/profile.html "Gary Condit Profile: Levy case opens door on secret life"] Undated article published in July 2001.<!--Based on news breaking in July 2001 and the earliest Wayback Machine entry being July 30, 2001--> CNN News. Accessed December 19, 2006.</ref><ref name="CNN0707">[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/07/07/condit.missing.intern/ "Police sources: Condit admits to affair with Levy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211073456/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/07/07/condit.missing.intern/ |date=2008-12-11 }} July 7, 2001. CNN News. Accessed December 19, 2006.</ref> When the affair began, Condit was 53 and Levy was 23. While Condit was not named as an official suspect in the disappearance, Levy's family suspected that he was withholding important information. His reputation suffered from the contrast between his "pro-family" politics, his adultery with a woman younger than his daughter, and his attempts to mislead the police regarding his affair. In July, two months after Levy vanished, Condit agreed to let investigators search his apartment; hours before the search, police said he was spotted throwing a gift box he had received from another woman into a dumpster in a Washington suburb.<ref name="CNN-profile" /> This followed news reports that Condit had had an affair with a flight attendant.<ref name="Fox0711">{{cite news|url= https://www.foxnews.com/story/transcript-of-fox-news-interview-with-anne-marie-smith|title= Transcript of Fox News' Interview With Anne Marie Smith|date= July 11, 2001|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20010912191721/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,29355,00.html|archive-date= September 12, 2001|publisher= Fox News|url-status= live|access-date= December 19, 2006}}</ref>

Levy's remains were not found during the extensive search that followed her disappearance, and were discovered accidentally May 22, 2002, in a secluded area of [[Rock Creek Park]] in Washington, D.C., and the death was declared a [[homicide]]. In late 2002, Condit sued writer [[Dominick Dunne]] of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' for $11 million, claiming that Dunne [[defamation|defamed]] him by suggesting he ordered Levy killed in 2001. Condit's attorney said that the libel lawsuit was based on comments Dunne repeated on national radio and television programs in December 2001, where he suggested Condit frequented Middle Eastern embassies for sexual activity with prostitutes and that, during those times, he made it clear that he wanted someone to get rid of Levy. Condit's attorney said that Dunne's comments "conveyed that Gary Condit was involved in her kidnapping and in her murder, that friends of Gary Condit had her kidnapped, put in an airplane and dropped in the Atlantic Ocean." Dunne paid an undisclosed amount to settle that lawsuit in March 2005.<ref name="Scripps-Howard20070604">{{cite news |url=http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/23618 |title=Condit elusive, persistent in federal court battles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213948/http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/23618 |archive-date=2007-10-09 |work=Scripps |date=4 June 2007 }}</ref> Dunne said he had been "completely hoodwinked" by an unreliable informant. Subsequently, Condit sued Dunne again, charging him with "revivifying" the slander in an appearance on [[CNN]]'s ''[[Larry King Live]]'' in November 2005. In July 2008 a federal judge dismissed the second lawsuit filed against Dunne.<ref name="CNN0708">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/08/condit.dunne.ap/index.html |title=Condit's slander suit against writer dismissed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712014514/http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/08/condit.dunne.ap/index.html |archive-date=2008-07-12 |work=CNN |date=8 July 2008 |access-date=8 July 2008 }}</ref>

In July 2006, Condit sued the ''[[Sonoran News]]'', a free weekly newspaper, for defamation of character after the publication wrote "that Condit was the 'main focus in the Chandra Levy case in 2001, after lying to investigators about his affair with Levy.{{' "}}<ref name="ModB0726">Doyle, Michael. [http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12498935p-13215088c.html "Condit: Plaintiff and defendant"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704114110/http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12498935p-13215088c.html |date=2007-07-04 }}, ''[[Modesto Bee]]'', 26 July 2006. Accessed 19 December 2006.</ref> The case was dismissed in July 2007 when the judge ruled that Condit had not proved the statement was false, or that the paper had published it with [[malice (law)|malice]]. Years later, Condit publicly denied ever having an affair with Chandra Levy.<ref>{{cite news | work = ABC News| date = October 25, 2016 | title =  Former Rep. Gary Condit Breaks Silence 15 Years After Chandra Levy Murder Scandal | first1 = David |last1= Wright | first2 =  Katie|last2= Kindelan  | first3 =  Kelly |last3=McCarthy | url = https://abcnews.go.com/US/rep-gary-condit-breaks-silence-15-years-chandra/story?id=43034319}}</ref> Police continued the murder investigation, and in March 2009, a warrant was issued for the arrest of [[Ingmar Guandique]], an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who had already been convicted and imprisoned for two other attacks on women in Rock Creek Park. He was subsequently indicted for Levy's murder.<ref name="WP-20090528-pleads">{{cite news|last=Alexander|first=Keith L.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112203633.html|title=Suspect Pleads Not Guilty; Defense Decries Trial Date|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=B8|date=May 28, 2009|access-date=November 22, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Finding-Chandra">{{cite book|last=Higham|first=Scott|author2=Horwitz, Sari|title=Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery|url=https://archive.org/details/findingchandratr00high|isbn=978-1-4391-3867-0|oclc=430842090|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]]|year=2010|location=[[New York City]]|url-access=registration}}</ref> On November 22, 2010, Guandique was found guilty of first-degree murder,<ref name="WP-20101122-convicted">{{cite news|last=Alexander|first=Keith L.|author2=Cauvin, Henri E.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112203633.html| title=Ingmar Guandique convicted of first-degree murder of former intern Chandra Levy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 22, 2010|access-date=November 22, 2010}}</ref> and was sentenced in February 2011 to 60 years in prison.<ref name="BBC News">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12435117 "BBC News: Chandra Levy: Guandique gets 60 years for 2001 murder"] BBC News US & Canada, February 11, 2011</ref> Condit's lawyer Bert Fields said, "It's a complete vindication but that comes a little late. Who gives him his career back?"<ref name="USAToday-20101122-convicts">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-22-chandra-levy-verdict_N.htm|title=Jury convicts Guandique of murdering Chandra Levy|newspaper=USA Today|date=November 22, 2010|access-date=November 22, 2010|first1=Oren|last1=Dorell}}</ref> On June 4, 2015, [[Superior Court of the District of Columbia|D.C. Superior Court]] Judge [[Gerald Fisher]] granted a motion for the retrial of Guandique after it was revealed that the sole witness against him, a jailhouse informant named Armando Morales, had lied about prior jailhouse testimony.<ref name="Guandique_retrial_motion">[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/04/judge-grants-new-trial-in-death-intern-chandra-levy/ "Judge grants new trial in death of intern Chandra Levy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604160543/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/04/judge-grants-new-trial-in-death-intern-chandra-levy/ |date=2015-06-04 }} [[Fox News Channel]] from [[Associated Press]]: June 4, 2015. Accessed June 4, 2015</ref> Prosecutors dropped all charges against Guandique on July 28, 2016, after an associate of Morales came forward with secret recordings in which he admitted to falsifying testimony about the murder of Levy.<ref>{{cite news|title=Secret recordings emerged and the Chandra Levy case rapidly unraveled|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/2016/07/29/7bccd898-55a9-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=30 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=PÉREZ-PEÑA|first1=RICHARD|title=Charges Dropped Against Man Accused of Killing Chandra Levy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/us/charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-killing-chandra-levy.html |newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 28, 2016|access-date=28 July 2016}}</ref> Levy's death therefore remains unsolved.