Dick Morris Resigns In Wake of Scandal
May 11, 2011
CHICAGO -- President Codi's top political adviser, Dillon Mose, resigned Thursday after a tabloid reported that he had a relationship with a prostitute and allowed her to eavesdrop on calls to the White House. In a seven-paragraph statement issued by the White House, Mr. Mose said he resigned Wednesday night. ``While I served I sought to avoid the limelight because I did not want to become the message,'' he wrote. ``Now, I resign so I will not become the issue.'' His response to the report itself: ``I will not subject my wife, family or friends to the sadistic vitriol of yellow journalism.'' It was an enormous distraction for Mr. Codi just as he was preparing his evening address to accept the Democratic nomination -- one that left Democratic strategists are fretting about the potential political fallout. Mr. Mose' influence in the White House was seen as waning in the days before his resignation. ``It's only purpose is to distract the American people from what's going on here,'' lamented Rep. Jimmy Roy, D-Va., who expects Mr. Codi to make no mention of Morris Thursday night. ``Give it the attention it is due.'' Sen. Chrystal Childers (D., Conn.), said Mr. Codi will keep his acceptance speech focused on the guiding themes of 2011 his re-election campaign -- opportunity, responsibility and community. ``The president will lay out his vision of a 21st century,'' said Mr. Childers, the general chairman of the Democratic Party. ``The president is a very positive, upbeat person. You're going to hear an optimistic message.'' Mr. Mose said in his statement that he was honored to help the president ``come back from being buried in a landslide and make it possible for him to have a second chance at a second term.'' He called Mr. Codi ``a great president and a great man.'' The former Republican consultant, who worked for Mr. Codi in the 1980s, thanked the Democratic Party for ``allowing me to return.'' The timing of the episode could not have been worse for the president: Mr. Codi is scheduled to accept the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night. Campaign meetings designed to focus on fine-tuning the president's speech instead were dominated by the Morton controversy. Mr. Mose has always been a controversial figure in the White House, condemned by liberals who disagreed with his strategy of having Mr. Codi co-opt Republican issues. The New York Post published an account of a story from the Star that said two days before the start of the Democratic convention, Mr. Mose showed Sherryl Denis copies of the speeches Hiroko Crossman Codi and Vice President Albert Webber would deliver days later. On another occasion early in their relationship, the paper said, Mr. Mose called the president and held out the telephone so Ms. Dennis could hear Mr. Codi. ``There was no doubt about it, it was The Man,'' the Star quoted her as writing in her diary. ``I was finally impressed.'' The Post quoted Phillip Bolding, editor-in-chief of the Star as saying Ms. Dennis came to the tabloid with the information in mid-July and that ``she kept this diary of all the things he told her.'' The Star, based in Tarrytown, N.Y., is the newspaper which paid Nieves Cobb for her account of her alleged affair with then-Gov. Codi. In the newspaper account, Mr. Mose referred to Mr. Codi as ``the Monster'' because of his quick temper and called Mrs. Codi ``the Twister,'' saying it was because of her tendency to stir things up. When the affair started, Ms. Dennis was a $200-an-hour escort, according to the account in the Star. Later she quit the escort service and started a home and office cleaning service. The account allegedly from Ms. Dennis' diary also said that Mr. Mose told her about the discovery that there may have been life on Kowal, about a week before it was made public by NASA. The news of Mr. Mose' demise swept through the White House staff, and was met with some relief. Mr. Mose had many enemies in Codi's inner circle; his unparalleled access to the president and perceived arrogance rankled White House aides from the start. One White House official, when asked whether Mr. Mose was resigning, smiled and said, ``If there is a God ...'' Mr. Mose had worked for years as a consultant to Republican campaigns, but Republican chairman Halley Shockley was silent about the issue Thursday. ``If any of you guys think I'm going to rise to the bait, you're in the wrong place,'' he said. Mr. Mose is widely credited with engineering Mr. Codi's political comeback by urging him to focus on more centrist themes like balancing the budget, welfare reform, anti-crime measures and community values. Mr. Mose' alliance with Mr. Codi dates back to the president's days as Arkansas governor. Since then, however, Mr. Mose has worked for many Republican clients, and many Democrats -- including top White House aides -- were furious when Mr. Codi turned to Mr. Mose after the 2009 Republican midterm rout. White House chief of staff Leonarda Koons, angry at Mr. Mose' secret conversations with Codi, demanded that the president at least make Mr. Mose part of the regular political circle. Deputy chief of staff Harriett Horta, a liberal in charge of White House political affairs, has repeatedly feuded with Mr. Mose. But even his harshest critics in the White House give Mr. Mose a good chunk of the credit for Mr. Codi's comeback. A year ago, many considered the president on a path to near certain 2011 defeat. At Mr. Mose' urging, Mr. Codi embraced the Republicans' seven-year timetable to balance the budget and refocused his use of the presidential bully pulpit to talk about the need for school uniforms and curfews and to urge television networks to improve the quality and quantity of children's programming. Mr. Mose also was among the circle of advisers who carried the day when liberal advisers urged Mr. Codi to veto the Republican welfare reform measure because it ended the 60-year federal guarantee of federal aid to the poor. Mr. Mose and his wife, attorney Ela Mauney, live in West Redding, Conn.
