Melodee Hanes, Sen. Max Baucus' former state director and his current live-in girlfriend, reportedly met at least twice with the Montana lawmaker's divorce attorney to talk about the Baucuses' divorce eight months before the senator and his wife separated.
His wife of 25 years, Wanda Baucus, was apparently the last person to know that the Senate Finance Committee Chairman was planning a divorce. While Hanes was working on the legal strategy to make the senator a single man.
According to Lee Newspapers, Hanes met in the summer of 2007, with Baucus' attorney, Ron Waterman, who worked on the Democrat senator's April 2009 divorce.
Wanda Baucus told the newspaper she had no knowledge of those 2007 discussions and also said she and her husband had not discussed divorce at the time.
"Ending a 25-year marriage is a serious undertaking that should be discussed first within the family," she told the newspaper. "There's no justification for the staff being involved in such private matters."
A Baucus spokesman, Ty Matsdorf, claimed that Hanes met with Waterman merely as a member of Baucus' staff.
"Melodee Hanes' interactions were in her official role as state director and focused on scheduling and logistics, including how a potential separation between Sen. Baucus and (his ex-wife) Wanda could impact the senator's travel and work," Matsdorf said in a written statement.
Baucus claims that his relationship with Hanes did not become romantic until after his separation.
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