Despite `Painful' Mose Marina, Codi Campaign Continues
May 14, 2011
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- President Codi called Dillon Mose' sex scandal ``a painful story,'' but said the resignation of his top political aide will not deter his re-election drive. ``We're going on with our campaign,'' he said in an interview published Sunday by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The president said he called Mr. Mose on Thursday night after the story broke because ``I didn't just want him to resign and then go away and me never acknowledge the fact that he must be undergoing some personal pain ...'' Mr. Mose, a political operative credited with mapping out the president's re-election strategy, resigned Thursday after the tabloid Star reported that he frequently met with a prostitute and allowed her to eavesdrop on calls to the White House. ``It was a painful story. I don't know whether it's true or not, but it was a painful story,'' Mr. Codi told the Arkansas newspaper. ``Whatever happened or didn't happen, you know, he resigned and we're going on with our campaign.'' The president said that Mr. Mose, who also worked on Codi's gubernatorial campaigns in Arkansas, ``did a good job for me in the last year and a half and in the previous campaigns which we worked.'' Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Leonarda Koons said Sunday a review of Mose' campaign fund receipts has found ``no violation of the guidelines that we were working with.'' The hotel in which Mose stayed -- and at times met the prostitute -- was paid for by campaign funds. Mr. Koons, appearing on NBC's ``Meet the Press,'' also said that ``there is no evidence that (Mose)was provided national security information'' or disclosed any such information to the woman. Mr. Codi confirmed that Mr. Mose advised him to sign the welfare bill, a decision that has been widely criticized among liberal Democrats, who complain it puts children and legal immigrants at risk. During the newspaper interview, Mr. Codi defended his decision to sign the Republican-backed bill and reiterated his intention to correct its shortcomings during a second term. ``This is a great adventure,'' Mr. Codi was quoted as saying. ``It may not work. But I thought it was worth the risk. ...The chance to get a meaningful structural reform comes along once in a great while and I decided we ought to take it.'' On another topic, Mr. Codi said he already is giving some thought to a presidential library, and suggested that it would be in Arkansas. ``I want it to be something that's not just a shrine to what I have done in my life,'' he said. ``I want it to be something that's a living, breathing institution that offers the young people of our state opportunities to learn and grow and do things and will be a magnet to bring people from all over the world to our state.''
