Eagle eyes scanning the Senate chamber picked up on an irregularity in the senatorial desk décor.

Our scout (who was clearly bored by the morning business at hand) noticed that all the senators’ desks were clear, save a pencil or two … except the desk of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). There’s what appears to be a small, framed picture in the upper left-hand corner of the storied wooden desk assigned to Stevens.

We were mildly intrigued. Was it a picture of his kids?  His beloved wife Catherine? Or perhaps a depiction of the Incredible Hulk, Stevens’s muse? 

A spokeswoman tells us it’s actually a copy of the Rotary Club’s “four-way test” for determining the right thing to do. No doubt the chagrin of whomever dusts the Senate chamber, the dang thing’s been sitting there since 1969. Stevens got the OK from none other than then-Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to keep the tchotchke on display.

According to Rotary, the four prongs of the test are:
1) Is it the TRUTH?
2) Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3) Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

“The Senator thinks they are good principles and good to think about,” the spokeswoman said.

Maybe Stevens, who joined Rotary in 1962 but is now an honorary member because he cannot attend the required weekly meetings, should share his desk décor with colleagues. Could come in handy for those rancorous floor debates or tussles with his frequent verbal jousting partner, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Heroin junkies, strip clubs, gangs, murders … Ah, it’s just another day in Charm City. At least that’s what you’d think if everything you know about Baltimore you learned from The Wire, the HBO series about the gritty underside of D.C.’s neighbor to the north.

Baltimore boosters doubtless would rather present a rosier, more family-friendly picture of their city to HBO’s millions of viewers nationwide: Orioles games at Camden Yards, the Inner Harbor, the aquarium. Members of the Maryland congressional delegation also say the show isn’t exactly a public relations bonanza for their beloved city — still, they admit a weakness for the critically acclaimed drama.

“It’s not flattering, but it’s fascinating,” says Rep. Albert Wynn, a Democrat who admits he’s hooked on the show. “I watch it constantly.”

Wynn notes that the show focuses only on the grimy, criminal aspect of the city and not its middle-class neighborhoods.

“You don’t get the full picture,” he says. 

But most lawmakers interviewed give TV viewers credit for being able to distinguish fact from fiction. “The Wire is theater,” says Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), adding that he likes watching the show to spot familiar scenery.

Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.) also put in a plug for the economic boon the show has brought to Baltimore. “It provides a lot of employment for our city,” he says.

“The Wire” has made passing references to real-life politicos, including Ruppersberger and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). But those Marylanders whom the show hasn’t named seemed a tad peeved that they haven’t received the star treatment. “I’ve got to get to work to get them to put my name on the show,” Wynn joked.

And Cardin, who is running for Senate, offered up a mock threat. “If they want any help from me in the Senate,” he deadpanned, “they better get me on that show!”

Only a few more days left to celebrate “Ethics Awareness Month,” the designation that the American League of Lobbyists gave the month of September. The group is sending e-mails to lobbyists around town urging them to sign on to its code of ethics as part of becoming a member.  To celebrate the month, President Paul Miller says, the lobbyist league is reaching out with educational programs, including talking with school groups on field trips about the role of lobbying.

“Once they have they opportunity to learn, many of them think that’s something they might be interested in once they graduate from college,” he told us.

(We think they just wanted to hit the Union Station food court.)

But there’s still plenty of time to prepare for “Drug-Free Work Week,” which Labor Secretary Elaine Chao announced would be held Oct. 16-22. This announcement raises so many questions we hardly know where to begin.  Does this mean that workplaces aren’t drug free the rest of the year?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) father, Hugh Rodham, was a conservative Republican who nevertheless campaigned for her husband, telling fellow Republicans: “I think Democrats are one step short of communism, but this kid’s all right.”

And Jimmy Hoffa’s daughter, Barbara Hoffa Crancer, recalls that her father wore a tuxedo for the first time to her wedding, preferring to dress in suits like the workingmen he represented.

Those are just two of the stories daughters reveal about their dads in “Love You, Daddy Boy: Daughters Honor the Fathers They Love,” a collection of writings on dear old dads edited by Karyn McLaughlin Frist, wife of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Though it’s not even Father’s Day, there are two new books by prominent political family members paying tribute to fathers. Frist’s book, out early next month, is being published by Taylor Trade Publishing, and includes contributions from an A-list lineup of daughters.

According to her publicist, once Frist settled on the book idea, she went about buttonholing friends and strangers at cocktail parties, asking them to contribute short essays about their fathers. The result is writings by an eclectic assortment of women across the political spectrum and plenty of non-Washington types, too, including Sens. Clinton, Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.); former first lady Nancy Reagan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Roseanne Cash (daughter of the late, great Johnny Cash) and author Mary Higgins Clark.

The Frists are hosting a splashy reception Sept. 30 at their home to honor the “daughters and fathers” featured in the book.

And another family you might have heard of, the Bushes, also have a literary homage to their reigning pater familias hitting the shelves. Doro Koch Bush, daughter of former President George H.W. Bush and sister of the current prez, has penned “My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H.W. Bush,” due out from Warner Books next month.

 Aaron Blake and Jonathan Kaplan contributed to this page.