REP. BONO GETS BURNED FOR HONESTY

LOS ANGELES -- Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.), widow of Sonny Bono and weary of
scandal, says that she's learning the hard way that she sometimes can be
"too honest."

Yes, she told The Associated Press on Friday, her husband did have a
prescription drug problem. "A reporter asked me a direct question and I
answered it," Bono said. "In hindsight, I wish I hadn't said anything."

The reporter worked for TV Guide. Its Nov. 28 issue quotes Bono as saying
painkillers contributed to her husband's death last January, when he skied
into a tree.

"What he did showed absolute lack of judgment," she told the magazine.
"That's what these pills do."

Since those statements were publicized, her telephone never stops ringing,
she said during a phone interview from her parents' home in North Carolina.

For years, the pop singer who entered politics consumed Valium and Vicodin
for chronic neck and back pain, his widow said. His dependency was known to
others, she said.

Bono spokesman Frank Cullen said Friday: "She wasn't going to bring this
forward. But when she was asked directly about it, she wasn't going to lie
about it.

Checked-by: Don Beck