Shhh…Rep. Gonzalez is secretly married

Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) has been married for the past nine months, but he has been keeping it under wraps.

He wears no wedding ring, saying he is waiting to purchase the exact one he wants. He placed no announcement in his local papers. He has no pictures of himself and his bride in his D.C. office, but instead keeps a photo album in his desk. Inside is a photograph of his wife blowing him a kiss, “so that’s nice,” he says, smiling ear to ear.  

The couple dated two years before eloping on December 31, 2005 in San Francisco in a park across the street from the Huntington Hotel. There were no guests at the wedding. The witness was the hotel concierge. The rings they exchanged were purchased in Chinatown for $1.79. The bride’s ring has since been upgraded for something more expensive.

“We were going to celebrate New Year’s Eve in San Francisco and we just thought it would be romantic and exciting,” said Gonzalez. The couple took a weeklong honeymoon to Hawaii in August.

Gonzalez said his new wife, Belinda Trevino, 47, who has not taken Gonzalez’s name, is extremely private and doesn’t mind that their marriage hasn’t been splashed all over the papers. Trevino, a brunette with long wavy hair, is a realtor in San Antonio.

The couple met when Trevino came into the office with her brother-in-law who was lobbying the congressman on an issue. Later, in 2003, Gonzalez was Christmas shopping back home at the local Pottery Barn, where Trevino was working part time. He was purchasing gifts for his aides and she waited on him.

Two weeks later, he returned to the store for some fake shopping and asked for her phone number.

Back home Gonzalez does mention his wife in speeches. Here in Washington he does not. “I make no secret of it, but I don’t publicize it,” he said.

On his third marriage, Gonzalez, who opened up to ITK on the matter last week, said he was trying as much as possible to keep his private life private. “It’s personal, and I’ve learned that the more a member’s family life remains private because of its personal nature, the better,” he said. “Our spouses and children get dragged into so much that you become sensitive. I have learned that from being the son of a member [former Rep. Henry Gonzalez (D-Texas)] and from experiences in my own life.”

Gonzalez said the couple is still adjusting to the usual trials of a making a long-distance marriage work. Trevino, who lives in Gonzalez’s San Antonio duplex, doesn’t spend a lot of time in Washington, but planned to attend the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s annual conference and gala this past weekend.

“It has been an interesting adjustment,” says the lawmaker, “I’m nuts about her.”

 Rep. McHenry to world: I don’t wear lifts on my shoes

A congressional aide said he witnessed two-inch lifts on the heels of Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) while standing behind him in a House elevator last week, but the lawmaker denies the claim.

“I have a pair of funky shoes, clogs,” he told ITK.

McHenry, a fireplug of a man, described the clogs, which make him significantly taller than his estimated 5 feet 4 inches as “the most comfortable shoes in the world.”

The North Carolina lawmaker insists his black clogs are suitable enough to wear with his tailored business suits. He also said Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) has a pair and recalled complimenting the Tennessee lawmaker on his. “They’re ugly as sin but they are very comfortable,” he said.

He added pointedly, “I’m very glad that people are paying attention to my footwear. It means a lot to me. It really changes my world.”

A call to Ford’s office could not verify that he, too, wears clogs, but Ford’s chief of staff, Bobby Sepucha, disputed McHenry’s assertion. “I’ve never seen him [Ford] in clogs and I’m with him an awful lot,” said Sepucha, who believes his boss stands 5 feet 11 inches tall. “I’ve seen him in boots, but not clogs.”

 Bishop and Gohmert can’t drink enough Dr. Pepper 

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) was ecstatic for one reason last week. Now that the Transportation Security Administration has finally lifted the rules on what travelers can bring aboard airplanes, he now gets to bring a bottle of his favorite soda on his flight back home. That drink: Dr. Pepper.

“I live on it,” Bishop said, adding that his colleague, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is a “big Dr. Pepper freak.”

Lauren Huly, Gohmert’s spokeswoman, confirmed her boss’s affinity for the syrupy soda made with prunes. “He loves it, he doesn’t go anywhere without a Dr. Pepper,” she said. “Pretty impressive. First thing in the morning, Dr. Pepper. As long as I’ve known him he has had an addiction to Dr. Pepper. You try to offer him a bottle of water, he won’t do it. And he won’t do Diet Dr. Pepper either. It’s regular Dr. Pepper.”

Huly was pleased that her boss and Bishop have bonded over their favorite soda. The main Dr. Pepper plant in Waco, Texas, and the Dr. Pepper museum are in the district represented by Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas).

“Chet does drink Dr. Pepper,” said Edward’s spokesman, Josh Taylor, who said the office doesn’t get free soda from the plant. “He’s a big fan of Dr. Pepper. It’s safe to say Chet consumes a fair amount … and is proud that it’s from the district.”

The Capitol looked like a hospital ward last week as several lawmakers were still feeling the painful aftermath of a football game against the Capitol Police. 

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) had knee surgery Wednesday morning after tearing his meniscus and is walking with crutches. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), 33, is walking with a cane after tearing his right knee. “It was a rough game,” Ryan said. “Charity is not as easy as it used to be. I think I’m golf and yoga from here on out.”

Also on the disabled list: Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who split his lip, and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), who was on crutches.

Last year’s game was also dangerous; Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) tore his ear.

Renzi’s spokesman, Vartan Djihanian, said he believes his boss will play again next year. “I don’t think it’s gonna stop him,” he said.

The team’s coach, Rep. Tom Osborne (R-Neb.), former head coach of the University of Nebraska football team, wanted to delay the game a week because he said lawmakers weren’t ready.

He was probably right.

Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, may be a staid newsman, but he’s still good enough for Playboy.com. The executives at Fox News are getting a kick over the fact that Mike Wallace’s serious-minded son landed on the Internet pages of Playboy.com in an article with the headline, “Going for the throat” last week after former President Bill Clinton shouted at him.

Chiefs to Rep. Harris turn out at fundraiser

There was a festival of past and present chiefs of staff to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) last week at a fundraiser at 101 Constitution Avenue for Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist.

There was her current and sixth chief, Scott Weaver, and a smattering of her former chiefs including Ben McKay (Harris’s second), Fred Asbell (her fifth) and Dan Berger (her first).

“They were huddled together across the room from us talking like bunch of school girls,” said a bystander, “And when Rep. Harris saw them, her eyes got big and she bee-lined to them to see what they were talking about. It was hilarious.”

Yesterday morning was a star-studded affair in HC-6. The subject was at-risk youth. The event was sponsored by Children United Nations, a non-profit organization dedicated for providing mentors to at-risk youth.

Aside from California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Xavier Becerra, some big names showed up.

They included Darryl McDaniels of the rap group Run DMC, actress Rhada Mitchell (Johnny Depp’s wife in “Finding Neverland”), Her Royal Highness Princess Dalal Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, and Cuban entertainer and actress Maria Conchita Alonso.

McDaniels, who grew up in Queens, N.Y. and lives in Wayne, N.J., made it clear he has no political bone in his body. When asked who represented him in the House, he said, “I have no idea.” Later, when Schiff turned to him and said, “Hi, I’m Adam Schiff,” he looked at the congressman blankly and replied, “I’m Daryl.”

McDaniels, 42, was there because he learned at age 35 that he had been adopted. Ever since, he says, he’s had flashbacks and sees little foster kids coming in and out of the house. “I thought they were cousins,” he said.

The rapper has since met his biological parents.