Salon stands by story on Condit spokeswoman

Salon published a story Tuesday by Joshua Micah Marshall reporting that Marina Ein, the spokeswoman for Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., had "suggested that Chandra Levy has her own sordid sexual history," and quoted Ein saying: "What about the fact that Lisa DePaulo is working on this article for Talk magazine, and it turns out Chandra Levy has a history of one-night stands?"

On Tuesday Ein strongly denied making these statements in a letter to Salon editor David Talbot that she later released to the press. Ein insisted that the story "is replete with inaccurate statements attributed to me ... Further, the premise of the piece -- that I was somehow engaged in an effort to cast aspersions on Ms. Levy's character or past -- is entirely false." Ein asked Talbot "to take the steps necessary to retract this story."

Salon will not do so. Marshall took scrupulous notes during his interview with Ein, which confirm that she did indeed make these statements. Furthermore, Salon has learned that Ein made similar disparaging comments about Levy to at least one other reporter at a major metropolitan newspaper. Salon stands by its story.