By Tom Kenworthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 7 1998; Page A03 Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, the Democratic Party national chairman, said today that he has had a "very affectionate" but not sexual relationship with a longtime aide. The 69-year-old governor acknowledged the relationship after a conservative magazine obtained secret surveillance videotapes showing the two together and published an article strongly suggesting the two were having an affair.
Romer told reporters that he, his wife of 45 years and his children long ago reached an understanding over the 16-year relationship with B.J. Thornberry, his former deputy chief of staff. He insisted he had not lied about the relationship when questions first arose about it during his 1990 and 1994 reelection campaigns. "There was no sexual relationship," Romer told reporters at a suburban Denver airport with his wife, Bea, at his side. "Affair is a word you have to interpret. I chose in those years, '90 and '94, to interpret it if you don't have a sexual relationship you don't have an affair."
Thornberry, 51, was Romer's deputy chief of staff for seven years in Denver. She served as his executive director at the Democratic National Committee from early 1996 through last November, and is now special assistant to the deputy secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department. Thornberry's secretary said Thornberry was out of her office and referred all inquiries to Romer's staff.
An outspoken and popular chief executive finishing his 12th and final year in office, Romer became the Democratic Party's general chairman in 1997. He has been a vocal defender of President Clinton, first for his role in campaign fund-raising and more recently in the face of allegations that Clinton had an improper relationship with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.
Romer said he had decided to talk about his relationship with Thornberry after an article in Insight magazine, released Thursday, suggested the two were having an extramarital affair, based on surveillance videotapes provided to the magazine. The tapes showed Romer and Thornberry hugging and kissing in a parking lot and a car at Dulles International Airport.
"When in public life you have someone following you around and surveillance, very expensive surveillance, and publishing it, it was important I felt to let everybody in on what we really do and see about this, and how we think about it," said Romer. "Because it's a different kind of story."
Denver newspapers reported this morning that the videotaped surveillance was conducted by a local private detective, R.W. "Pete" Peterson, who declined to identify his client. Contacted today, Peterson said he is "reserving comment" until he sees "how this plays out."
But Peterson charged that Romer is lying when he insists he is not having a sexual relationship with Thornberry. "He's trying to pull a Clinton, but it won't work for him," said Peterson. "He's older, he's not attractive. . . . Everyone knows he's lying."
Asked if he provided the videotapes to Insight, Peterson said: "No comment."
The Insight piece is by Managing Editor Paul Rodriguez, author of a largely discredited article that Clinton had "sold" dozens of burial sites at Arlington National Cemetery to Democratic donors.
Jamie Dettmer, senior editor at Insight, a sister publication of the Washington Times, said that "the material was supplied to us by Democratic foes as well as Republican foes of the governor. Clearly, it was supplied partly because of the Lewinsky matter."
The magazine had a "very vigorous debate" about the story and "what kind of backlash we could expect from this. . . . We are not a tabloid outfit," Dettmer said. He said the editors decided the matter was both "newsworthy and in the public interest" because Romer had repeatedly denied an affair.
While "we have no interest in humiliating the governor," Dettmer said, Insight plans to release part of the videotape because Romer "forced our hand" with his "Clintonesque" denials today. Insight said the tapes show "that Romer may have had more than a platonic relationship."
Phil Perington, chairman of the state Democratic Party, assailed what he sees as gutter politics. "There's a lot of concern in both parties that Joe McCarthy has arisen from the dead. . . . There's a new breed of political paparazzi out there who are scavengers," he said.
Some talk radio callers likened Romer's admission to the sex and perjury allegations against Clinton. "How can I trust the president or the governor if his wife doesn't trust him?" one single mother told KHOW.
Romer appeared relaxed and confident today as he spoke of his relationship with Thornberry, which he said will continue. Bea Romer did not speak, but in a statement released Thursday night, the governor's wife said that he "has been open with me and shared the facts about the relationship with me from the beginning. It has not affected our marriage or our family."
Romer maintained that his relationship with Thornberry was platonic, but conceded the boundaries remained murky.
"These kinds of things are often not black or white, they have a lot of gray in them," said Romer, "and I think there needs to be flexibility within a family to handle that gray."
Describing what he called an "honorable and beautiful relationship" with Thornberry, he added: "Yeah, there were hugs and kisses. I'm just trying to tell it the way it is, tell it frankly. You all can take whatever interpretation you want . . . . I have also a very much workable and close relationship with my wife."
Staff writer Howard Kurtz in Washington contributed to this report.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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