Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cheat doesn't just apply to soccer.

I have copied this directly and entirely from the Adelaide Now Website - Link above.

The reason is that there is a very good chance that the Labor Heavyweights will attempt to censor this and it shouldn't be censored.

UPDATED 6:40PM: Mike Rann is facing intense pressure to resign because of an alleged sexual affair which involved sex in his Parliament House office, including on his desk.

The woman at the centre of the controversy, former Parliamentary barmaid Michelle Chantelois, has made a series of explosive allegations about the alleged relationship, which occurred when she was married to Burnside man Rick Phillips.

Asked specifically by Channel Seven's Sunday Night program if she had sex with Mr Rann on his desk, she replied, ``yes''.

Then aged 33, she claimed the long-running clandestine affair started when Mr Rann, aged 50, asked her to go back to his office because ``he wanted to kiss me''.

"That's the start of my nightmare," she said in the interview, broadcast on national television.

``There was sex involved, there was sexual contact, and intimacy involved."

Ms Chantelois said when she finished her job at Parliament House she returned her uniform before being invited by Mr Rann to have a drink in his office.

"We went to his office and the clothes came off and the intercourse began."

``You know having me on his desk, his Parliament House desk ... in his office ... and at the very end when it was finished it was almost like ``OK I have a meeting now, I have to go."

Ms Chantelois said she and Mr Rann also had sex near the North Adelaide Golf Course and he wanted to watch a movie with her about an illicit affair and told her a steamy sex scene in a toilet cubicle was "his fantasy".

She claimed Mr Rann told her never to put anything in writing, believing it was to "protect him", but, after an argument with his wife, sent her a text saying "he wanted to give me pleasure".

Ms Chantelois says in the interview that she had decided to break her silence because she was "not going to live off lies any more",

"The fact is that we did have a sexual relationship,"

"Basically I was his puppet. He was calling the shots and I was his puppet. I would just follow his instructions. And there were secret meetings.

"He made it very clear that this was going to be our little secret.

"I would come and pick him up at the casino. He would get in the car and during these times it was always Parliament House.

"He would direct me on where to go. Along the side, just on the side of the road at the golf course ... and I'm ashamed to say intimacy was involved.

"And then I would drive him back to Parliament House; he would get out of his vehicle and go back to work.

"I had no respect for myself at that point. I'm lying to my husband. I'm having this other fling on the side with Mike Rann and it was all wrong. It was all wrong. But I just kept getting drawn into it."

It is understood Ms Chantelois was paid a considerable sum for the interview - possibly as much as $200,000 according to speculation - a factor Mr Rann has previously pointed to in order to suggest the testimony was affected by the financial incentive.

Ms Chantelois denied that she had been motivated by the payment for the interview to reveal details of the relationship.

"That's not the motivation, the thing that has motivated me is Rick needs to know the truth," she said. "Money isn't the issue.'

Ms Chantelois called on Mr Rann - Australia's most popular premier and national president of the Australian Labor Party - to apologise to all of the people affected by the relationship.

"I actually think he should be apologising to Rick (Ms Chentelois's husband) and my family and his wife Sasha (Carrouzzo). And unfortunately because I had to come clean ... probably to the public as well," she said.

`I'm taking responsibility for my own bad behaviour, and Mike Rann should take responsibility for his own bad behaviour."

Mr Rann married his wife, Sasha Carrouzzo in July 2006, by which time the alleged affair had ended according to Ms Chantelois.

Mr Rann has undertaken to respond to the allegations tomorrow after he and his lawyers examine the interview.

However, earlier reports of the story have noted he has yet to specifically deny the claims - describing them instead as ``wildly sensational''.

Ms Chantelois is the estranged wife of Mr Phillips, who was arrested after allegedly attacking Mr Rann with a rolled-up Winestate magazine at a Labor Party fundraiser last month.

He faces court on December 7 on charges of aggravated assault.

According to an earlier Channel Seven report, Mr Rann urged Ms Chantelois to keep the alleged affair secret.

Channel Seven reported tonight it had obtained a statutory declaration from a friend of Ms Chantelois which alleged she was told by Ms Chantelois about the affair.

According to Channel Seven the sworn affadavit details how Ms Chantelois told her friend she had been asked by Mr Rann to keep the relationship secret.

‘’I asked Michelle if she had sexual intercourse with him and she said yes,'' it says.

‘’Michelle said that Mike Rann had told her that she must not tell a soul.

‘’Michelle was riddled by guilt…because she loved her husband and family.”

Mr Rann today failed to keep a scheduled appointment as the initial fallout from Ms Chantelois's allegations - first broadcast on Friday night and repeated again in the Sunday Mail - fuelled speculation about his political future.

Other government representatives at the event included Monsignor David Cappo, Federal Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas, cabinet minister Paul Caica and other state politicians including Grace Portolesi, Vini Ciccarello and Carmel Zollo.
A range of politicans and high profile South Australians were quizzed by the media as they entered the new $30 million Aged Care and Community Centre at Seaton but preferred to keep their opinions to themselves.

One of Mr Rann's closest allies Catholic priest Monsignor David Cappo refused to comment on the allegations when asked if had sympathy for the Premier.

Ministerial aspirant Grace Portolesi said that Mr Rann had her "full support - 100 per cent".

When asked about the allegations of an adulterous affair she said: "I can't comment on those claims. What matters to me and the community that I represent is the fact that we've got record jobs growth".

Member for Norwood Vini Ciccarello also refused to comment even when asked if she still supported Mr Rann.

Industrial Relations Minister Paul Caica also kept his views to himself.

The absence of Mr Rann came mid growing speculation there could be a leadership change should the claims made by Ms Chantelois prove politically fatal, although many still regard Mr Rann as Labor's best electoral asset four months out from the next State Election.

In her paid interview, Ms Chantelois also claimed she became Mr Rann's "puppet" during a lengthy sexual relationship that ended in 2005 - which Mr Rann has repeatedly maintained was a platonic friendship.

Ms Chantelois also told the program Mr Rann should apologise to both her husband and to his now-wife, Sasha Carruozzo, "because he was lying and doing this behind her back".

"I actually think he should be apologising to Rick (Michelle's husband) and my family and his wife Sasha. And unfortunately because I had to come clean ... probably to the public as well," she says.

"I'm taking responsibility for my own bad behaviour, and Mike Rann should take responsibility for his own bad behaviour."

The alleged affair ended before Mr Rann married Sasha Carruozzo in July 2006.

Ms Chantelois is the now-estranged wife of Mr Phillips, who was arrested after allegedly attacking Mr Rann with a rolled-up Winestate magazine at a Labor Party fundraiser last month.

He is due to appear in court on December 7, although it is understood formal charges have not yet been laid.

There is a restraining order against him approaching both Mr Rann and Treasurer Kevin Foley.

Asked yesterday about the allegations he had sex with Ms Chantelois, Mr Rann did not deny the claims, instead describing them as "wildly sensational" .

Speaking on arrival at the Croatian Food and Wine Festival at The Pines, Gepps Cross, Mr Rann said he would view tonight's program with his lawyers, then make a statement tomorrow.

"From what I have been told it is wildly sensational and there is a court case pending on December 7," he said.

"I intend to make a brief statement on Monday after we have found what these allegations are, but I would not be admitting to things that are not true.

"I do find it really interesting that just over four weeks ago, Ms Chantelois's lawyers came out and said she wanted to be left alone by the media. I understand that she has been paid a fortune to say the things that she has said publicly, but what I want to do is find out what she's said and I will be responding on Monday."

It is understood Ms Chantelois's representatives approached Channel 7 to sell the story, and government officials claim she may have been paid more than $200,000.

Channel 7 conducted around 11 hours of interviews and is understood to have obtained a series of statutory declarations, as well as phone records purportedly showing repeated texts and phone calls between Ms Chantelois and Mr Rann over an extended period.

Despondent Labor MPs were waiting to see tonight's program in full before assessing the damage to Mr Rann and the wider electoral fallout.

While some colleagues believe he can weather this storm, others fear that if it is too damaging he will have to quit - or be pushed.

There already is speculation over who could succeed him and cement themselves as a popular premier in time for victory at the March 20 election should the program prove politically fatal.

A previous leadership hopeful, Treasurer Kevin Foley, is seen by some as too damaged after revealing he has been on medication for depression, paving the way for possible successors Patrick Conlon, Jay Weatherill or John Hill.

Several senior Labor sources expressed concern for Mr Rann's family, noting that he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

"This lady is making some statements and Mr Rann will respond - people are continuing to support him and he is our best electoral asset," was a view expressed by one key source and echoed by others.

Correctional Services Minister Tom Koutsantonis yesterday blasted US-born Ms Chantelois for giving the interview, saying: "It's just a sleazy, awful attack."

Immediately following the alleged assault, Mr Rann, when questioned if he knew the man who attacked him, said: "I've never met him before."


My comments on this. Mike lied the day after the initial attack. He has consistently lied about his involvement with Ms Chantelois, he doesn't deserve any benefit of doubt since there isn't any, Tom Koutsantonis has no credibility.

The claims may be sensational but so were the claims of Monica Lewinski regarding Bill Clinton. Sensational claims are not automatically false. When you have someone who has, as his first response to questions, already lied about this affair on one side and an untested person on the other you should err on the side of the untested person.

They are the ones who deserve the benefit of the doubt. I, for one, believe Ms Chantelois is telling the truth.

The initial suggestion from Mike Rann when he was asked about the upcoming interview was that he understood she had been paid a considerable sum of money for the interview. He was insinuating that if you are paid to say things then they are lies.

If we hold that to be a given then all the information from all the Government minders is, by Mikes own insinuation, lies and should be given no room in any of the media outlets or any credibility.

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