An Affair to Remember in the Missouri Senate Race?
Posted by Catherine Favazza - 08/28/09 at 01:08 pmLefty bloggers and Missouri Democrats have been making noise for awhile now, claiming that Roy Blunt had an affair with his now-wife before he was divorced from his previous wife. Normally, it’s best to ignore such baseless, tacky attacks, but now this made-up story keeps creeping up and being passed off as unquestioned fact. (Libel, anyone?) I’ve observed this going on in my home state and it’s clear that it’s not going away. Someone has to clear things up.
Earlier this summer, Media Matters attacked The Washington Examiner for editing a story in which they had erroneously reported that Blunt had “gone through an affair.” Media Matters asserted that it was “demonstrably true that Blunt did have an affair with a tobacco lobbyist who would go on to become his current wife,” linking to a Rolling Stone article that provides no evidence, names no sources and passes the throwaway statement off as fact. Just like that. I agree with Media Matters that the Examiner should have noted the change to their article, but I fail to see how the Rolling Stone article deems this libelous gossip as “demonstrably true.”
The fact is: Roy Blunt is divorced–and that’s a sad thing. His colleagues Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill are also divorced. About 50 percent of marriages are expected to be terminated. It’s an awful thing all by itself.
That being said, if the Left–in Missouri or otherwise–wants to make this an issue, perhaps they should take the log out of their own eye first.
Do the math on some news stories from Missouri papers over the last few years. Statements from Robin Carnahan herself and her staff put her dating Juan Carlos Antolinez, her current husband, before his divorce was finalized. Turns out that Carnahan is the one who is actually in this messy situation. I’m not here to pass judgment, but thought it only fair to point out the facts as laid out by Carnahan and her crew in context of the public record. The timeline of their relationship speaks for itself.
Antolinez filed for divorce from his wife, Elizabeth Gatto, on Valentine’s Day in 2003 in St. Louis County family court, asserting the marriage was “irretrievably broken.” What a romantic, eh? Gatto and Antolinez’s divorce, however, was not finalized until October 7, 2003, when a settlement was reached.
Don Juan didn’t waste any time. According to his account in a 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune piece, Antolinez and Carnahan went on their first date to a Mardi Gras ball thrown by the St. Louis mayor, an event that took place two weeks after he filed for divorce.
That same Columbia Daily Tribune piece, a profile of Carnahan published on December 18, 2005, described Antolinez as a “a 42-year-old computer consultant from Colombia, whose marriage to an American woman in 1999 brought him to the United States.” Antolinez claimed to have divorced his first wife “about three years ago” when dishing about that first date:
“They eventually divorced, and about three years ago, Antolinez said, a mutual friend introduced him to Robin Carnahan. Their first date was at a Mardi Gras ball thrown by the mayor of St. Louis in 2003, and they have been together ever since.”
Ok, you’re thinking, the dates seem a bit odd, right? Let’s keep going.
In separate news stories in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star, both published on December 28, 2006, Carnahan and her chief-of-staff disclosed her engagement to marry Antolinez, calling him Carnahan’s “boyfriend of four years.” This places the origins of their relationship in 2002, prior to his oh-so-romantic Valentine’s Day divorce filing in 2003.
Carnahan’s chief-of-staff: “[Carnahan] is now engaged to be married. Her boyfriend of four years, Juan Carlos Antolinez, proposed marriage on Christmas Day, Mazur said.” (Post-Dispatch)
Carnahan herself: “Carnahan said her boyfriend of four years, Juan Carlos-Antolinez of St. Louis, proposed to her on Christmas.” (KC Star)
In the end, Carnahan and Antolinez married on June 30, 2007 in a private ceremony in Rolla, Missouri at her family’s farm.
Hmm. Perhaps Missouri Dems in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Just sayin’.
Popularity: 97% [?]
Related posts:
- Former Sen. Jim Talent to Endorse Roy Blunt for Senate
- Cor Jesu alumna Ann Wagner named Roy Blunt’s campaign chairman
- August 5 Means Missouri Primary Day
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Normally, I like to stay away from this stuff, but since FiredUp is the Carnahan family blog, it is important to return fire.
After all, if Robin Carnahan is going to hide behind the skirts of her paid blogger and his fake aliases, it’s only reasonable to assume this is what she wants to be heard.
Nice research.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:19 am
[...] now husband was still married to his ex wife at the time. Catherine Favazza has all the details. [An Affair to Remember in the Missouri Senate Race?] Categories: Missouri, Robin Carnahan, Roy Blunt Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a [...]
August 29th, 2009 at 9:19 am
[...] If you want to play the “Roy Blunt was having an affair with his now wife while still married to his former wife”, keep in mind that two sides can play at that game. No evidence of Blunt’s “affair”. Robin Carnahan’s relationship with her now husband, however, seems to have been admited to by Carnahan and her staff (her now husband was still married to his ex wife at the time. Catherine Favazza has all the details. [An Affair to Remember in the Missouri Senate Race?] [...]