WASHINGTON, 7 July — Maybe he should have stayed in Riyadh. Instead, when Raymond Mabus, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, returned home to Mississippi, he discovered his wife was having an affair.
Understandably distraught, Mabus arranged for a meeting with her and their priest. The meeting was held in the Mabuses’ living room, and just before the encounter, Mabus told the priest he planned to secretly tape the meeting. Neither man, however, informed Mrs. Mabus.
Fast forward. The couple was unable to reconcile their differences and save their marriage, and an unpleasant custody dispute developed when they divorced. It was during the divorce proceedings that Mabus pulled out the tapes and used them as evidence against his wife.
Taping is legal in Mississippi where one may record a conversation and use it as evidence in court. The big question is whether a priest must disclose that he knows a conversation is being taped.
According to a transcript of the taped meeting, Julie Hines, the former Mrs. Mabus, admitted having an affair and threatened to turn their children, the couple has twin daughters, against Mabus.
“I hate you,” she told her ex-husband. “I hate you with my very soul. I will hate you till the day I die. And I will tell my children. I will tell my children.”
During the divorce proceedings, a psychiatrist hired by Ray Mabus used her statements to recommend that he be granted legal custody of their daughters. The court agreed, and granted Mabus custody. He and his ex-wife alternate custody of the girls, in six-month intervals.
The ruling set tongues wagging in Mississippi, where Mabus was governor from 1988 to 1992 and ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996. It was also a tough blow to Hines’ reputation.
Last year she sued the priest, his church and Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi alleging clergy malpractice and fraud. She did not, however, sue her former husband.
Mabus, meanwhile, is currently practicing law in Jackson, Mississippi, where Hines works as a certified public accountant. In her current lawsuit, she is seeking compensation for the “mental anguish” she says she suffered when she lost her children, and her faith in the church.
The Mississippi and Untied States Supreme courts have declined to hear appeals on the court case, and a second motion to dismiss the case is pending.
Those who knew Mabus in Riyadh remember him as a likable man who acquired his ambassadorial position for having helped former President Clinton during his presidential campaign.
He therefore was a political appointee, and it showed. Mabus left Riyadh after the first two years of his 4-year appointment.
“He was used to being treated in a certain fashion after being governor, and that aspect of his attitude did not always sit well with me in terms of his expectations. His expectations of the Saudis he met were occasionally influenced by the deference and the courtesies he received as governor,” said a close observer of the US Embassy, who worked in Riyadh during the years Mabus served as ambassador.
“As political ambassadors go, he wasn’t bad. I’ve seen a lot worse, and I’ve also seen better. His work ethics were lax, but he also let professionals do their job.
“I think he was well enough received in Riyadh, and I don’t know why he left. His wife left Saudi Arabia first and then he decided to move back home. I also think he expected another job in the second Clinton administration, which did not materialize. It was all complicated by the fact that his wife left, and in retrospect, problems manifested themselves,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity to Arab News.
“Her leaving Saudi Arabia was cast in the best terms possible, but I’m speculating that was the beginning of their problems.” The then-Mrs. Mabus, he said, was known as someone who did not adjust well to living outside the United States, and who did not make much effort to learn about Saudi Arabia.
“Mabus was a decent enough guy. His departure didn’t effect relations between the two countries because there was a number two at the embassy who was quite competent. (Mabus) didn’t work too hard, but he worked enough to get the job done, and he didn’t make any big mistakes when in office.”
The big question, of course, is whether he made a mistake by secretly taping his ex-wife’s conversation with a priest.
