What a “Bess Mess”

Photo: Bettmann/Corbis/AP

1987

When Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America, was accused of getting her sewer-­contractor lover’s ­alimony payments ­reduced—in exchange for a job for the judge’s daughter, Sukhreet Gabel—she had to quit as Ed Koch’s cultural commissioner, putting a big dent in her ­beautiful longtime companion­ship with the mayor (so invaluable during Koch’s ’77 race). Everyone beat the rap, but Myerson’s reputation didn’t.

From the Archives: ‘Myerson’s Slide Into Scandal,’ (March 30, 1987)

Download the Complete History of Scandals [PDF]

What a “Bess Mess”