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With only two weeks left before Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) resigns to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the eight-term congressman told friends and former staffers at a party last week that he will miss a lot of things about Washington.
But his D.C. digs are not on that list.
Even as Meehan laughed about the luxury of no longer having to share a one-bedroom apartment on Capitol Hill, his colleagues were already circling what they see as an opportunity.
The reshuffle made for much banter at the fête, thrown for Meehan at the home of a former staffer.
It will be up to the congressman’s roommate, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), to choose Meehan’s replacement, who will pay something like $650 per month. Neal is presumably pleased, too, that he’ll now get dibs on the bedroom.
That’s right, Meehan’s replacement will be sleeping in the living room.
It’s not completely unheard of for Washingtonians to live this way — it’s just that those who do are usually referred to not as lawmakers but as “interns.”
Capitol’s grown on anti-Washington senator Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) likes to pretend that he doesn’t like Congress.
He’s always talking about how he’s really a doctor who’s most at home seeing patients at his Muskogee obstetrics practice. He’s term-limited himself, promising to bid the Capitol adieu after 12 years in the Senate. And there are doubtless plenty of colleagues who won’t mind it when he leaves; his crusade against earmarks has repeatedly put him at odds with some of the most senior members in the chamber.
But, deep down, he misses Washington when he is out of town.
The sometimes-caustic, always-pugnacious Coburn had successful surgery June 27 at the Mayo Clinic to remove a benign tumor from his pituitary gland. The following day, The Wall Street Journal printed a letter by the recovering senator.
Spokesman John Hart said the letter was submitted a week before it was published and Coburn had been out of touch with his staff for only one day for the surgery.
Coburn will recuperate at home until his planned return to Washington before the end of next week, but we wonder if he can even stand it that long.
“I do think he is eager to get back,” Hart said.
Rep. Lacy Clay speaks up for intern rights If White House lobbyists were looking forward to some bipartisan schmoozing with Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) at tonight’s Congressional Picnic, they might need to set their sights on another Democrat.
Clay was fuming last week after getting an electronic missive from President Bush’s legislative affairs shop disinviting his five interns from the event on the lawn at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Clay wanted to bring all five because he could not bring members of his family; they’re back home in St. Louis. So he sent their names and Social Security numbers to the White House to get them past the gate. But on Friday he heard back from the White House Office of Legislative Affairs: “Interns are not permitted to attend the picnic.”
“If family members cannot attend, members are allowed to bring one guest,” White House staffer Casey Watts Morgan said.
That really irritated Clay, who said his interns were really looking forward to the event.
“They may have uninvited me now,” Clay said.
Gordon Smith’s vanity: all the way from suits to plates It’s no secret that Sen. Gordon Smith has style.
Nobody can rock the bold pinstriped suit like the Republican from Oregon. Few will even attempt the look, which Smith models with aplomb. And, if previous years are any guide, Smith will go above and beyond the call of sartorial duty for “Seersucker Thursday,” an annual event planned for this week by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
So maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised that the most fashionable senator’s standards extend to his cars.
Watching him speed off in his white Mercedes, we were impressed, in spite of ourselves, to see the license plate “FROZEN” staring back at us. (Smith managed his family’s frozen foods company until his election.)
But who can survive on one car alone? Smith can also be spotted in cars labeled “GETYUP,” “PEAS1” and “VEGOUT.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon’s Democrat in the upper chamber, said little surprises him these days when it comes to the ever-accumulating style points of his colleague. And he has learned not to compete.
“People say there are two senators from Oregon. One is extremely handsome and tailored and articulate, and there is the other one,” Wyden joked.
Of course, it’s easy to be gracious when you’ve won. Wyden and Smith have a famously collegial relationship, despite the fact that Wyden defeated Smith in a bruising special election in 1996, only to have Smith waltz in less than a year later after winning the seat of Republican Mark Hatfield.
Peace tree grows amid hostile environment When we learned that a “Peace Tree” now adorns the Capitol grounds, we couldn’t help but be suspicious that a politically correct, seasonally incorrect holiday celebration was afoot.
We are relieved to report that’s not the case.
The Brahma Kumaris Peace Tree, located near the intersection of 1st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, has temporarily been transformed into the “Tree of Blessings” with more than 300 red laminated cards inscribed with messages from around the world.
People sent blessings, knowing that they would be seen on Capitol Hill, said Jenna Miraj, director of Brahma Kumaris in Washington, D.C. The group received 300 messages from six continents in three days.
“May you always remain in peace, for peace is the mother of happiness,” reads a blessing from someone in the Czech Republic.
“Members are invited to come by and share, take, and experience being blessed,” the group said in a statement.
The blessings will remain on the tree for at least another week. Next week, by the way, is expected to be anything but peaceful as Congress fights through energy, immigration and defense authorizing bills.
Mike Soraghan and Kelly McCormack contributed to this page.
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