Henry’s Hooters

Print

E-Mail

Reprints

Text Size

Latest News

• Democratic Leaders Party With Fence-Sitters at White House Reception
• Obama Defends Use of Procedural Maneuver for Passing Health Care
• Report: Justice Department Subpoenas Nevada Businesses in Connection With Ensign Inquiry
• Health Reform Inches Closer
• Sunday Health Care Vote Increasingly Likely

Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.) needed some help on highway projects, and decided to bring about 20 staffers from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee down to his district to get acquainted with the area and learn about its needs.

The airline used to transport all those staffers down to South Carolina — Hooters Air. Yep, that Hooters.

Brown’s office said it was the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce and not the South Carolina Republican who made the travel arrangements for the trip, which took place two weeks ago. Besides, Hooters Air is a reputable airline, and its main hub is in Myrtle Beach, said Sharon Axson, Brown’s press secretary.

Hooters is just “trying to be a good corporate citizen,” said Axson, and Myrtle Beach could use some more federal highway money, so it was important to get the staffers into the district, however they got there. “Hooters Air is just like any other airline. It just happens to have a distinctive name. If the connotation is that they’re involved in something unwholesome in flight, it’s just not the case.”

Brad Dean of the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce said Hooters Air delayed its flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to make sure that Brown and the staffers made it on time. “In that case, they were willing to alter their schedule and bring them in that night,” said Dean, who noted that only two carriers fly to Myrtle Beach, and Hooters was cheaper, as well as being a direct flight, which sealed the deal.

Hooters, of course, is famous for using buxom women in tight shirts to serve food and drinks in its 330 restaurants. “The Hooters Girls are like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders or the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models: they’re the All-American girl, and they’re famous,” states the company’s Web site. The company slogan: “Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.” Hooters Air flights include some of the 15,000 Hooters Girls.

While several GOP aides were questioning the public relations aspect of flying Hooters Air, a top staffer for a Republican serving on Transportation and Infrastructure defended it: “It sure is better than flying on United Airlines.”

Rules to Live By. With Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s future at the Pentagon in doubt following allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Democrats helpfully spent part of last week making sure that everyone had a copy of “Rumsfeld’s Rules.”

This set of “rules, reflections and quotations” was first compiled by Rumsfeld during the early 1970s, and was revised in 2001. Rumsfeld served as a White House chief of staff under then-President Gerald Ford, was a four-term Member of Congress from Illinois, secretary of Defense twice, a diplomat and business leader. Throughout his life, he has tried to build on the experience of his predecessors, combining that with hard-won knowledge gleaned from his own background,

Some quotes from “Rumsfeld’s Rules” that may be particularly apropos in the current political furor he finds himself in: “If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes”; “The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don’t tell him the truth. Others won’t do it”; “It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.”

But with calls from some Democrats and media bigwigs for Rumsfeld to step down, this one may be the most telling: “Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.”

In the Clear. Former Senate staffer Christine Niedermeier is no longer considered a suspect in the murder of her sister, Nancy Dunning, according to WRC-TV.

Dunning, the wife of Alexandria Sheriff James Dunning, was shot to death in her home on Dec. 5. The case is still unsolved, and a $100,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of her killer.

WRC reported that Niedermeier “has been eliminated as a suspect in her sister’s death.” Niedermeier herself told the television station that the period since her sister’s death has “been extremely painful for my family and especially for me. It’s had a devastating impact on my personal and professional life.”