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2008-09-09 19:15:56 UTC
Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Obama's Pastor) Has Affair With Another Man's Wife:
He almost wrecked Obama's presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor
Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker's marriage - and
her job, The Post has learned.
Elizabeth Payne, 37, said she had a steamy sexual affair with the
controversial, racially divisive man of the cloth while she was an executive
assistant at a church headed by a popular Wright protégé.
When word of the unholy alliance got out, Payne's husband dumped her, and
she was canned from the plum job at Friendship-West Baptist Church, she told
The Post.
"I was involved with Rev. Wright, and that's why I lost my job and why my
husband divorced me," Payne said.
She refused to reveal when the adulterous affair started or how she met
Wright.
But fellow churchgoers at Friendship-West "found out about the affair in the
spring," Payne said.
At the time, she was secretary to the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a longtime
Wright disciple.
In April, Payne organized a series of Texas public appearances by Wright,
67. Weeks before, Obama had disavowed his preacher of 20 years after
Wright's anti-government rants came to light.
"Liz was by Rev. Wright's side day and night during those days," a church
source said.
"It's all true," said Payne, adding that she has filed a wrongful-dismissal
claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to get her job back.
In an ironic twist, Wright last night spoke at an East Orange, NJ, church
revival on the subject of "unexpected problems."
"There's no such thing as a problem-free relationship," he told a packed
Elmwood United Presbyterian Church. "In life, you'll have unexpected
problems."
He punctuated his 45-minute sermon with evocative 1960s hits, including the
Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go," Frankie Beverley's "Joy and Pain," and
the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." He's set to speak there again
tonight.
Payne's husband, Fred Payne, 64, said he learned of the affair in late
February, when he discovered e-mails between his wife and Wright.
"There must have been about 80 of them, back and forth," he said. "Wright
said things like he was going to leave his wife for Elizabeth."
Wright has been married to his second wife, Ramah, for more than 20 years.
The preacher reportedly wooed Ramah away from her first husband in the
1980s, when the couple came to marriage counseling at Wright's Trinity
United Church of Christ in Chicago.
After discovering he had been cuckolded, Fred Payne, who had married
Elizabeth in October 2006, headed straight for divorce court.
"I was downright mad about this bull- - - -," said Fred, who said he is "in
the oil and gas business," belongs to a hunting club and makes his own
bullets in his garage.
"People wouldn't be happy to know that my wife was sleeping with a black
man."
He added, "Rev. Haynes doesn't like the interracial thing, either. This was
quite an issue for him."
Elizabeth Payne said she has been banished by Haynes and the flock at
Friendship-West.
"I'm not a member of the congregation anymore; I'm not even allowed on the
premises," she said.
Wright became an embarrassment for Obama after videos of the preacher's old
sermons emerged.
In them, Wright blamed the United States for the 9/11 attacks and boomed,
"God damn America!"
reporting by Austin Fenner
He almost wrecked Obama's presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor
Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker's marriage - and
her job, The Post has learned.
Elizabeth Payne, 37, said she had a steamy sexual affair with the
controversial, racially divisive man of the cloth while she was an executive
assistant at a church headed by a popular Wright protégé.
When word of the unholy alliance got out, Payne's husband dumped her, and
she was canned from the plum job at Friendship-West Baptist Church, she told
The Post.
"I was involved with Rev. Wright, and that's why I lost my job and why my
husband divorced me," Payne said.
She refused to reveal when the adulterous affair started or how she met
Wright.
But fellow churchgoers at Friendship-West "found out about the affair in the
spring," Payne said.
At the time, she was secretary to the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a longtime
Wright disciple.
In April, Payne organized a series of Texas public appearances by Wright,
67. Weeks before, Obama had disavowed his preacher of 20 years after
Wright's anti-government rants came to light.
"Liz was by Rev. Wright's side day and night during those days," a church
source said.
"It's all true," said Payne, adding that she has filed a wrongful-dismissal
claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to get her job back.
In an ironic twist, Wright last night spoke at an East Orange, NJ, church
revival on the subject of "unexpected problems."
"There's no such thing as a problem-free relationship," he told a packed
Elmwood United Presbyterian Church. "In life, you'll have unexpected
problems."
He punctuated his 45-minute sermon with evocative 1960s hits, including the
Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go," Frankie Beverley's "Joy and Pain," and
the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." He's set to speak there again
tonight.
Payne's husband, Fred Payne, 64, said he learned of the affair in late
February, when he discovered e-mails between his wife and Wright.
"There must have been about 80 of them, back and forth," he said. "Wright
said things like he was going to leave his wife for Elizabeth."
Wright has been married to his second wife, Ramah, for more than 20 years.
The preacher reportedly wooed Ramah away from her first husband in the
1980s, when the couple came to marriage counseling at Wright's Trinity
United Church of Christ in Chicago.
After discovering he had been cuckolded, Fred Payne, who had married
Elizabeth in October 2006, headed straight for divorce court.
"I was downright mad about this bull- - - -," said Fred, who said he is "in
the oil and gas business," belongs to a hunting club and makes his own
bullets in his garage.
"People wouldn't be happy to know that my wife was sleeping with a black
man."
He added, "Rev. Haynes doesn't like the interracial thing, either. This was
quite an issue for him."
Elizabeth Payne said she has been banished by Haynes and the flock at
Friendship-West.
"I'm not a member of the congregation anymore; I'm not even allowed on the
premises," she said.
Wright became an embarrassment for Obama after videos of the preacher's old
sermons emerged.
In them, Wright blamed the United States for the 9/11 attacks and boomed,
"God damn America!"
reporting by Austin Fenner