Today's GOP assault round up

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Congressman's wife called 911
Sweeney campaign says the document concerning a domestic incident is ``false and concocted''

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
Last updated: 8:53 p.m., Tuesday, October 31, 2006

CLIFTON PARK -- The wife of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney called police last December to complain her husband was ``knocking her around'' during a late-night argument at the couple's home, according to a document obtained last week by the Times Union.

The emergency call to a police dispatcher triggered a visit to the couple's residence by a state trooper from Clifton Park, who filed a domestic incident report after noting that the congressman had scratches on his face, the document states. No criminal charges were filed.

Gaia M. Sweeney, 36, told a trooper that her husband had grabbed her by the neck and was pushing her around the house, according to the document.

Sweeney campaign aide Maureen Donovan issued a statement late Tuesday attacking the authenticity of the document, labeling it ``a piece of campaign propaganda.'' The six-line statement does not address whether police were called to the residence for a domestic dispute that evening.
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The Times Union confirmed several months ago, through multiple law enforcement sources, that State Police had responded to the Sweeney residence in early December to investigate a domestic dispute. The sources confirmed that Sweeney had scratches on his face when a trooper arrived, but they provided no additional information about the incident.

In the past 10 months, at least three news organizations, including the Times Union, have filed formal requests seeking disclosure of police records about the incident. State Police denied those requests and, according to agency sources, ordered that all inquiries about the matter be directed to headquarters, where officials have declined comment.

Early Tuesday, copies of the document obtained by this newspaper were provided to State Police headquarters and to Sweeney's offices in Washington, D.C., and Clifton Park.

State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett declined a request to verify its authenticity. He also declined comment. The record appears to be a report printed from the agency's electronic blotter system.

A State Police spokesman issued the following statement late Tuesday: ``Our agency already responded to your newspaper via the Freedom of Information Law procedure and there is nothing further to discuss.''

Sweeney has declined repeated requests to discuss the incident. The Times Union initially contacted Sweeney's office for comment last December, about three weeks after police responded to his residence. The congressman did not return telephone inquiries about the incident that month. He also did not respond to requests for comment, which were made through his spokeswoman, on Monday and Tuesday.

The statement issued by Sweeney's campaign states: ``This barley (sic) legible document that is currently being circulated is a piece of campaign propaganda in the continued smear campaign against Congressman John Sweeney and his family. It is not authentic. It is false and it is a concoction by our opposition.''

The statement continued: ``If any media outlet plans to run a story based on this unauthentic, false and concocted document the outlet should be prepared to deal directly with our counsel. The document is hardly legible and there is no signature, date, or seal on the document. It's unethical, it's disgusting and it is beyond reproach.''

A Sweeney spokeswoman did not respond to a follow-up request from the newspaper inquiring whether the congressman is disputing the facts contained in the document. The newspaper also asked whether Sweeney would authorize State Police to release records from the incident. The spokeswoman did not respond.

Sweeney's wife, Gaia, placed the emergency call to a police dispatcher in Saratoga County at 12:55 a.m. on Dec. 2, according to the document.

``Female caller stating her husband is knocking her around the house,'' a dispatcher wrote. ``Then she stated `Here it comes, are you ready?' and disconnected the call. Upon call-back, the husband stated no problem ... asked the wife if she wanted to talk. Wife (caller) then got on the phone and stated that she's fine and that she's drunk. Caller sounded intoxicated. She advised that she was endangered for a moment, but everything is fine.''

Congressman wifebeater, joins Congressman mistress choker and now Congressman sexual assaulter


Scandal Rocks Nevada Governor's Race

By SCOTT SONNER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 31, 2006; 8:54 PM

RENO, Nev. -- Nevada's race for governor was barely a contest at all until it took a scandalous turn a few weeks ago, when a cocktail waitress accused Rep. Jim Gibbons of trying to sexually assault her in a parking garage after a night of drinking just off the Las Vegas Strip.

The lurid allegations in the closing weeks of the campaign have put the race back in play and put the one-time Republican front-runner on the defensive. Policy issues have taken a back seat to dueling news conferences, a burgeoning criminal investigation and a mystery over what exactly is on the parking garage's surveillance video.

Gibbons, a conservative five-term congressman from Reno and the only member in the House to have served in both the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, had held a nine-point lead in September over liberal Democrat Dina Titus, a state lawmaker and political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In a possible measure of how much damage the scandal has done, President Bush is headed to Nevada for the second time in a month, with a speech scheduled Thursday in Gibbons' solidly Republican congressional district.

"Certainly the race must be tighter than they anticipated because it should have been a cakewalk ... for Gibbons, and now we have the president coming to Elko," said Fred Lokken, a Republican and political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.

It was three weeks before Election Day when 32-year-old Chrissy Mazzeo made three 911 calls after leaving a Las Vegas restaurant where she had been drinking with a friend, the married congressman, his top adviser and others. Alternately breathless and laughing, the single mother who recently left the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino to work at the Bellagio hotel-casino told police that Gibbons grabbed her arms and tried to force himself on her.

Gibbons told police it didn't happen. He said he walked Mazzeo toward her truck and helped her catch her balance after she tripped at the garage entrance. At a news conference with his wife at his side, he insisted he had behaved like "an officer and a gentleman."

Mazzeo dropped the complaint the day after the alleged incident and told police it was because she did not want to start a media circus and "because of who he is."

But last week, Mazzeo, having retained a lawyer, called a news conference to claim she was threatened, pressured and offered money through an intermediary to change her story. Mazzeo said the intermediary was a friend who told her her life was in danger and "if you don't drop this, Chrissy, they will kill you, your baby and your family."

Gibbons called the remarks defamatory and outrageous. Gibbons' lawyer, Don Campbell, called her an "exceedingly troubled young lady," and her friend, a Republican who had been part of the group in the bar, said "she needs to strongly consider seeking professional help."

Jesus, what the hell is wrong with the GOP.

In the last week:

A Wyoming Congresswoman threatens to slap a paraplegic

Two different questioners are assaulted by Republican staff

A New York Congressman is accused of spousal abuse

The GOP candidate for governor of Nevada is being charged with attempted sexual assault

The incumbent senator in Virginia is being asked about his sealed divorce and arrest records.

posted by Steve @ 12:30:00 AM