McAuliffe needles Silver at State Department party
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe could not resist mocking “West Wing” actor and liberal Ron Silver at a State Department cocktail party last weekend.

While standing with his 20-something daughter and a reporter, Silver saw McAuliffe approaching and warned, “He’s going to ask if I’m ready to come home.”

Some of you may recall Silver’s star performance at the Republican National Convention last year when he defected from the Hollywood Dems and gave a speech for Bush. So he wasn’t surprised when McAuliffe (quite loudly) asked, “Are you ready to come home, brother? I’m just worried about you, Ron. I don’t want you to be the last one out there by yourself.”

Silver said he stands by his decision to support Bush.
Once inside the Benjamin Franklin Dining Room, Silver retreated to the “Kid’s Table” with his daughter; Kid Rock; Bo Derek; Kerry Perez; violinist and composer Mark O’Conner; his date, Andra Voldins; Ruth Henderson, widow of New York Pops founder Skitch Henderson, who died last month; former Reagan Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein; and his wife, Jackie, a producer for “Charlie Rose.”

Amid the glitterati in the 300-person crowd was a smattering of lawmakers. There was polite applause for GOP officials including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), but Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) received thunderous applause in the evening’s only reminder that, on any other day, this group would be locked in fierce political battle.

Back at the Kid’s Table, drink was both drunk and spilled. Rock, who wore an open shirt and a fedora hat, stood as the Marine Corps jazz trio performed, but the crowd would not be led into an ovation. 

Sen. Vitter’s voiceless press secretary
Laura Rosche, press secretary for Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), is speechless — perpetually. It’s an office rule.

Reporters who phone Vitter’s office to speak to her are forwarded to Communications Director Mac Abrams.

One Republican communications director said that the situation in Vitter’s office is unusual but that “one of the factors you deal with is everyone in the office wants to be the press secretary. You have to set a clear line of authority, but you can’t be so territorial that you damage your office.”

Rosche is described as “nice and normal” by Senate press colleagues. She goes way back with Vitter and was his press secretary last year, when he served in the House.

A Democratic aide said, “In our office, both I and our press secretary are on the record, and our deputy communications director also talks on the record.” The aide also said he knows how Abrams works and “would not hold your breath on getting a call back.”

Those with knowledge of Vitter’s office say the operation is notoriously tight-lipped and seeks to craft a careful message. Perhaps in line with that pattern, Abrams did not respond to a call for comment. What gives? Does the legislative director not handle legislation? Is the chief of staff not actually the chief?

Lobbyist celebrates wedding anniversary in Virgin Islands
If anyone was missing lobbyist Dan Berger last week, it was because he was in the Virgin Islands with his wife, Amy, celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.

Berger, vice president of government relations for the America’s Community Bankers, said the week consisted of “scuba diving, fishing and Corona consumption, not necessarily in that order.”

He also said there were no natural disasters: “Nope, perfect weather the entire time.”

Sighting: Former Gov. McGreevy on Capitol Hill
Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy (D), who came out of the closet last year in a dramatic confessional speech, was spotted walking quickly through the basement of Rayburn near the Congressional Federal Credit Union on Monday afternoon. He was wearing a long, black trench coat.

“Do you think he was getting Corzine’s appointment?” joked Bill Caruso, spokesman to Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.). Sen. Jon Corzine (D), newly elected governor of New Jersey, is expected to name his Senate replacement soon. Andrews is among those hopeful of winning Corzine’s favor.

McGreevy was thought to be in town to see both Andrews and his main rival, Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), but aides to both members said the former governor had not visited.

Rep. Sherman has ‘The Right Stuff’
You’d be hard-pressed to find an unmarried member of Congress who hasn’t used an online dating service.

That is the view of Mike Briggs, press secretary for Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who adds significantly that “this is the 21st century, [and] we’re in the computer age.”

Briggs confirmed that his 51-year-old boss, who is single and has used JDate, also has used the Right Stuff, a more elite online dating service for the ultra-intelligent.

Being a Harvard Law School graduate makes him eligible. The Right Stuff caters to grads of the Ivy League and other renowned colleges such as Smith, Rice, Brown, Oberlin and more.

“Smart is sexy. Join the Ivy League of Dating,” suggests the online promo in fancy writing. The Right Stuff, based in Upper Montclair, N.J., requires users to provide proof of graduation from a lengthy list of schools. The membership fee is $70 for six months.

“The congressman was on that service,” Briggs confirmed. “He has not been on that one or any other since last spring.”

One 38-year-old woman, a Smith grad who says she met Sherman on the Right Stuff, said that she was not “intoxicated by the power” and that Sherman was initially “very charming.”

Briggs did not warm to the subject. “Thinking about your boss’s dating habits is like thinking about your parents’ love life,” he said. “You have a hunch something is happening out there, but you don’t want the details.”

Sens. Brownback and Durbin roughing it in the Congo
For the past week, Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have been together in the Congo, Rwanda and Kenya — hardly Cancun.

John Rankin, Brownback’s spokesman, says the pair doesn’t typically travel together, although both sit on the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee.

Where they stayed was kept secret “just for security purposes, [although] it’s not technically classified,” Rankin said, adding, “You know, the Congo is going through a civil war.”

For at least part of their stay in Kenya, the pair stayed in Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve and slept in tents.

“They have embassy security,” assured Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker.

Brownback was joined by one congressional aide. Durbin took his Illinois chief of staff, Mike Daly.

Announcements

Rep. Cantor’s chief of staff gets engaged in Belize
Rob Collins, 32, the chief of staff to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), is engaged to Susan Stilts, 35, a sales rep for Eli Lilly and Co. in Washington. The couple decided to take the plunge, appropriately, while under a waterfall in Belize, in a national park.

“It was a beautiful, sunny day,” Collins reports.

The pair met while Collins was working on the Dave McIntosh gubernatorial race in Indianapolis, Ind. They have been dating for five years. “Some people say we’re rushing into this,” Collins jokes.

Collins is from Syracuse, N.Y., and Stilts is from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The wedding is set for August and will be a large, Catholic one in Washington. “It will be well-attended,” he adds.