Ex in Sager affair speaks

Edward “Eddie” Alexandre, the former husband of the media liaison of Jason Sager, said he acted alone when he went public with a surveillance tape of the former county commissioner candidate in bed with his ex-wife.

Alexandre said he installed a surveillance camera in the bedroom of he and his ex-wife to get incriminating evidence of an affair he was certain was occurring.

He said he also found explicit emails and photos sent from Sager to his wife Danielle Alexandre on their shared computer.

Alexandre said he called Diane Rowden, who was running against Sager for county commissioner, and told her he had incriminating material on Sager and asked for her advice.

Alexandre said Rowden, without waiting to hear what that material was, hung up the phone almost immediately and said she could not get involved.

About two hours later, Alexandre said he got an unsolicited phone call from a reporter and he presented the whole package.

“I went to the press,” Alexandre said. “I talked to the press. Diane had nothing to do with this.”

When asked to expand on Alexandre’s story about how a reporter knew to call him about something Sager had done, Rowden was reluctant to talk and instead walked away from a Hernando Today reporter prior to Tuesday’s county commission meeting.

She said she wants no more to do with this issue.

“I had my job to do and he should have been doing his,” Rowden said.

Sager has admitted to an extra-marital affair with Danielle Alexandre and that it probably helped lead to his defeat for county commissioner representing District 3.

Sager said he and his own wife, Stephanie, have since reconciled and are moving on. However, Sager said he is attorney shopping to see if any laws were broken by the filming of the tape or by its dissemination to the media.

Sager told Hernando Today last week he believes Rowden pressured Alexandre into releasing the tape.

Sager said he can’t find perfect peace until the real details of the affair come out. Setting the record straight would prevent his opponents from using what happened to defame him or his family in the future, he said.

“I’m glad that this has made his family stronger but it destroyed mine,” said Alexandre, who had been married 14 years.

Sager said the law protects people from being videotaped without their consent.

“Mr. Alexandre had already moved out of their house when he broke in and set up hidden cameras and there was definitely a reasonable expectation of privacy between both parties involved,” Sager said.

Alexandre said he had not moved out so he couldn’t break into his own home.

Alexandre said it was coincidental that this all broke the day before early voting. He said he decided to do so after his 13-year-old son found a political flier sent to their home and he confronted his dad about Sager.

Alexandre said he didn’t think his son knew what was going on.

Alexandre said this whole ordeal has been a shock and he is undergoing counseling. He said he has custody of his three children and continues to live at his home he once shared with Danielle.

Danielle Alexandre no longer lives there, he said.

“This isn’t political,” Alexandre said. “For me, this is my life. I’ve had to seek counseling and it is still going on. It was a complete shock.”