West Virginia Governor Talks to Students (Adultery Scandal Continues)

The Associated Press ^ | 5/15/03 | Gavin McCormick

[LdSentinal]

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. - Gov. Bob Wise, insisting his admission of marital infidelity is a private matter, said Thursday his main job is to work on issues confronting the state.

"I stated fully that I had a brief affair outside marriage. I have taken full responsibility. That's all the people of West Virginia want to know," Wise told reporters after visiting schools in Princeton and Parkersburg.

In his first public appearance since admitting to an affair, Wise told several hundred high school students that "life is about choices."

"Trust me, I now think about that every day," Wise said. "We make good choices and bad choices."

A handful of parents stood and cheered when the governor was introduced at a Parkersburg South High ceremony to honor scholarship recipients, and the crowd applauded several times as he spoke.

The 55-year-old governor declined to answer further questions about the affair. The Charleston Daily Mail reported Monday that the husband of a state development office employee, Angela Mascia-Frye, 35, had accused his wife of having an affair with Wise.

Mascia-Frye has declined comment. Phillip Frye filed for divorce April 7.

Wise, a first-term Democrat who previously served in Congress, issued a statement in response to the article saying he had been unfaithful to his wife and two children.

"I've caused incredible pain for my wife and family," he said after Thursday's talk. "We are working through this together."

[capitan_refugio]

It does not say this in the article, but Bob Wise is a Democrat. Usually, when the press doesn't identify the party of an offender, s/he is a Democrat.

[capitan_refugio]

It did say it in the next-to-last paragraph. I got ahead of myself; but it is a useful rule of thumb.

[stylin19a]

In his first public appearance since admitting to an affair, Wise told several hundred high school students that "life is about choices." "Trust me, I now think about that every day," Wise said. "We make good choices and bad choices."

He failed to mention that choices, especially bad choices, have consequences. So I wonder what his will be ?

[RJayneJ]

I noticed that too. The fact that he was a Democrat was in the end of the article. If he was a Republican it would have been somewhere in the headline. Oh ye, of little faith... };^D)

[mountaineer]

What really irritates me is that the latest round of news analysis of Wise's adultery focuses on whether his wife, Sandy, will be the good Demorat trouper (like Hillary Clinton), and stay with him for the good of the cause. Apparently, if she divorces him, that will adversely affect his political future.

Hello? Maybe Sandy Wise should do what's best for her and her children, and not be guided by Bob's miserable political aspirations. Heaven knows he wasn't thinking of what was best for her when he boffed that state employee.