Ex-wife refuses to back down from Hull
Friends stand up for candidate, but she is adamant By John Chase and John Bebow, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter David Mendell contributed to this report
Published March 6, 2004
Beleaguered U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull on Friday produced an array of character witnesses to blunt accusations he verbally and physically abused his ex-wife Brenda Sexton, but Sexton shot back that Hull was trying to sully her reputation by suggesting she exaggerated the charges to squeeze him for money.
"I will not be victimized by him again about the events surrounding our divorce," said Sexton, whom Hull married and divorced twice within a span of three years.
Sexton's allegations against Hull have overshadowed the multimillionaire's effort to win the Democratic nomination in the March 16 primary, allowing more modestly funded opponents who had been trailing him in the polls to raise questions about his character.
The prepared statement by Sexton came just hours after the Hull campaign held an unusual downtown news conference that the candidate skipped. Instead, an array of people stepped up to defend him, including his first ex-wife to whom he was married for 28 years, his daughters, his former personal assistant and Sexton's former nanny who made her attestation through an e-mail that was read aloud.
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