TOO FUNNY, MAYBE DONALDSON IS MONICA LEWINSKY'S DAD? POOR GARY CONLIT NOT GETTING A PIECE OF THE ACTION.
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SEC NOMINEE MAY BE GRILLED ON LOVE CHILD
By BETH PISKORA
BILL DONALDSON
Has president's support.
Getty Images
January 31, 2003 -- President Bush's nominee for SEC Chairman, William Donaldson, had a child out of wedlock - and will probably have to answer questions about it at his Senate confirmation hearings.
The president, meanwhile, remains firmly behind his choice regardless.
"We were aware of this before the president nominated Donaldson," said Claire Buchan, a spokeswoman for the White House. "The President believes William Donaldson is highly qualified to be SEC chairman."
Donaldson had a long affair with the wife of a congressman, and a child was born to the couple 12 years ago, according to the bombshell report on Fortune.com.
While married to his wife of 34 years, Donaldson started an affair with a woman, Jane Morrison, in the late 1980s. She was, at the time, the wife of Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-Conn.).
The Morrisons subsequently separated and divorced in 1990, but Donaldson remained married until his first wife died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1994. He then married Jane Morrison in 1995.
However, the baby was born in 1990 - while Donaldson was still married to his first wife.
Donaldson did not return a call from The Post for comment.
A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission referred The Post to the White House, which said Bush backs his nominee.
The Senate is expected to begin confirmation hearings on Donaldson's nomination next week. An unidentified source told Fortune that this mat^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ter, while personal, should come up, since it is behavior that "calls his character into question, and character is an important thing for the next head of the SEC to have."
Donaldson's nomination thus becomes the second embarrassment for the supposedly family-friendly Bush administration as it attempts to remake the country's economic team.
Bush's nominee for Treasury Secretary, John Snow, was arrested, though never charged, for drunk driving in 1982. Snow's ex-wife sued in 1988 for non-payment of child support over a 19-month period. |
