Rep. Hinchey to marry his former aide
As they say, third time’s a charm, and hopefully this is the case for Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who plans to wed longtime girlfriend Allison Lee on Feb. 11 at the Mohonk Mountain House, a resort in the Hudson Valley that offers horse-drawn carriage rides, an ice-skating pavilion and a spa. Hinchey, 67, is on his third marriage, and Lee, 43, is on her second.

Hinchey has three adult children from his previous marriages; Lee has one child from her previous marriage.

Lee worked as an aide to Hinchey when he served in the New York state Assembly and in Congress. Lee was in charge of Hinchey’s district office.

The couple have been dating for 12 years. They began dating after she stopped working for him. Asked if he knew he had feelings for her while she worked for him, Hinchey told ITK, “Sure, [but] things sometimes take time. We all have our idea of what the perfect mate might be. She represents my ideal of what perfect would be.”

Lee works for Patricia Lynch Associates, a lobbying firm in Albany. She worked in local radio news in the 1990s before joining Hinchey’s congressional staff. She later became executive director of the Kingston Newburgh Enterprise Community, a federal program that Hinchey helped to create.

If this sounds fishy in light of the current climate in Washington over lobbying ethics, it could be. According to a recent report in the Daily Freeman, Hinchey’s hometown newspaper, Lee was involved in a controversy three years ago over the designation of ambulance services. Republicans charged that Lee’s client at the time, MetroCare Ambulance Group, had an unfair advantage because Hinchey had secured numerous grants for the city.

City leaders subsequently awarded the contract to Mobile Life Services with Lee’s client serving as a backup.

Ney’s flak tries to put a positive spin on things
Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Ever since the fallout of the Jack Abramoff scandal and the indictment of Michael Scanlon last fall, Brian Walsh, press secretary to Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), has been sending out weekly e-mail bulletins to reporters citing the positive stories written about his boss — just in case they may not have noticed them in the thick of the negative press Ney has been receiving for dealings with Abramoff.

Always bearing the subject line “In case you missed it,” the e-mails take on a caring quality, assisting reporters who haven’t asked for help, researching material they may not have had time to peruse.

The practice of sending out such positive-spin e-mails is not just in Ney’s office. Several House leadership offices, including those of ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have employed the practice. In some offices it has become so commonplace that they use the abbreviation ICYMI (“in case you missed it”).

Walsh seems to have taken the practice to a new level. While adamantly trying to deflect his boss’s negative press, he cites four newspapers, including the Wheeling News-Register, pointing out wonderful things about his boss with bolded bullets and phrases.

One phrase reads, “The Ohio Republican Party recently took a poll in Ney’s district that found the congressman is ‘not in trouble’ despite the controversy.”

In another bulletin, Walsh passed along a letter to the editor from the Coshocton Tribune bearing the headline, “Let’s not judge Ney before facts heard.” The letter, written by a locomotive engineer, says what a fine person Ney is and mentions that the writer attended Ney’s wedding reception.

Walsh reasoned that his bulletins are “simply to make people aware of the news that’s going on the congressman’s district. There is a tendency in Washington for people to focus only on the negative. I’m just surprised that you’re interested in it.”

Sighting: Former Nixon and Reagan spokesmen dine at Hay-Adams
Herb Klein, the former press secretary to the late President Richard Nixon, was enjoying a breakfast of pancakes in a private, elegant dining room at the Hay-Adams Hotel last week. He was joined by late President Ronald Reagan’s former press secretary Larry Speakes.

Walking to the dining room with the help of a walker, Klein appeared to be in good spirits and had nearly gobbled up the entire plate of pancakes when a couple of reporters showed up to say hello. Klein reported that later in the afternoon he and Speakes would visit the White House for a meeting.

Asked if he was going to advise President Bush on anything, he turned to Speakes and said they were in the midst of discussing strategy.

Jackson Lee breaks a toe
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was spotted with a cast on her foot this week. When asked what happened, Jasper Hendricks, her executive assistant, explained that the congresswoman has broken a toe — specifically the second toe from the left on her right foot, which, he pointed out, would be akin to the middle finger on your hand.

As Hendricks tells it, the congresswoman was preparing for a congressional trip to Israel, but the day before “she was around the house doing some things and trying to pack and everything and she stumped her toe and actually broke a bone.

“She was packing, excited about her trip, moving fast trying to pack and it just sort of happened. I think she was on the phone and packing. She’s a very busy woman.”

Jackson Lee rushed to the hospital and a few hours later boarded a plane for Israel. “Yeah, she was a trouper,” said Hendricks.  The congresswoman’s office insists that no staffer was injured in the breaking of her toe.

Social-director race turns intense; Chuck Norris gets involved, kind of
The race for House majority leader may be heated, but it’s no match for the race among press aides to be the new social directors of the Republican Communications Association (RCA), an outlet for GOP press secretaries to “meet, mingle and share ideas,” as its website explains.

The four aides vying for two social-director spots are Brad Dayspring, communications director for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.); Chris Taylor, a press aide to Hastert; Rachel Bauer, a press aide to Cantor; and Tory Mazzolla, press secretary to Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).

Dayspring sent an e-mail to voters last week joking that he had the backing of actor Chuck Norris and that “Taylor/Bauer for RCA social director is wrong.” Dayspring’s e-mail came in response to Taylor and Bauer’s sending a mass e-mail to more than 200 press aides with their leadership press secretary list.

In another e-mail plea, Taylor asked, “Do you want someone who works as hard as you do and understands your need to ‘let off some steam?’… Do you need someone who has many leather-bound books and whose apartment smells of rich mahogany?”

The Norris e-mail didn’t pay off. Dayspring lost by one vote to Mazzolla and Taylor, the association’s new social directors. But there’s no bad blood: “I’ll follow the Ronald Reagan path of losing an election, not the Al Gore method,” Dayspring said.

Announcements
Hoyer’s press aide gives birth to a girl
Stacey Farnan Bernards, spokeswoman for House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and her husband, Chip, welcomed their daughter, Colette Darling Bernards, into the world on Jan 2. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 inches long.
 
An exclusive late-night party
Members and guests of the City Tavern Club there will get a chance to party late into the night at the swank Georgetown venue Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Temporary memberships are $10 at the door. Attire: No jeans.