In a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection Wednesday afternoon, Bono said, “I could not afford college for my son if Sonny’s royalties were not paying for it.” That would be the royalties from her late husband, the singer and former Congressman.
College isn’t her only expense. Bono mentioned that she recently bought new cars for herself and Chez, both of which needed satellite radio and Bluetooth capabilities.
Chez, who celebrated his 18th birthday last Tuesday, has, like other kids his age, a MySpace Web page. According to his page, he lives “life on the wild side, i love to party, kick it with the homies, and jam out on the guitar.” He also mentions his famous parents by name.
On his site, he also admits to smoking and drinking and has two very hunky, shirtless photos of himself, showing off his ripped abs.
According to Bono spokeswoman Kimberly Collins, Chez plans to attend the University of Southern California this fall, though his admission is conditional on completion of a summer school course. USC would cost $46,966 a year in tuition, housing and other costs, according to the school’s Web site.
While he hasn’t chosen a major yet, “he’s very interested in music,” Collins said.
She had no comment on Rep. Bono’s assertion that living on $165,200 isn’t enough to pay for her son’s college.
Fleet Feet. By jove, Rep. Bart “Speedy” Gordon (D-Tenn.) did it again this year!
Handily retaining the title of Fastest Member of Congress, Gordon was the first Member to cross the finish line Wednesday in the 25th annual ACLI Capital Challenge, a 5K run in Anacostia Park that benefits the Special Olympics.
Gordon, who came in 19th overall out of 642 finishers, timed out at 18 minutes and 5 seconds. Gordon’s team, the Mercenary Highlanders, was the fastest overall team. They even beat Team Navy!
Meanwhile, Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) was the first of his chamber to cross the line. Sununu recaptured his title by beating this year’s No. 2 Senate finisher, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.). But Ensign, who beat Sununu last year, was carrying a few extra pounds this year — 12 to be exact, according to the Senator’s roommate, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), who captains the venerable Wamp Up Side The Head.
Roomies Ensign and Wamp decided to take it relatively easy, for them at least, and stick together this year. They finished nearly side-by-side at 149th and 150th, respectively.
Nobody took it quite as easy as Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), who won the distinction of the last Member of Congress to cross the finish line — ninth-to-last overall. But we’re proud of the sectegenarian for getting out there and listening to the advice of his children.
“My daughter Keely made me promise I’d walk, so I did,” the Senator told HOH. “It was good fun.” (It was his fifth or sixth time participating in the Capital Challenge.)
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) was the first female Senator to finish, at 38 minutes and 58 seconds. Then again, she was also the last female Senator to finish the race, since she was the only female Senator running.
HOH walked at least a mile of the race with Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), who had some sort of a spur in his left foot. “It feels like you’re running on a tiny marble,” he said.
So, feeling bad for him, we stayed back. (Of course, if you ask Serrano, he’ll say he stayed back for HOH.) Alternating between sprinting (when important people were near) and walking (when he could get away with it), Serrano finished in 31 minutes and 19 seconds. During one of his walking jaunts, he nudged HOH to “hurry, start running!” because he spotted his brother’s boss, Tom Messenbourg, the associate director of the Census Bureau. (Eli Serrano is small-business ombudsman at the Census Bureau.)
He tried to keep up for a bit, but ultimately Serrano let Messenbourg press ahead in a calculated political move designed to protect his only brother. Serrano reminded HOH later, “When you and I had the opportunity to run ahead of him, we thought what it might do to my brother’s career, right?”
Serrano, it should be added, wasn’t thrilled about the idea of HOH talking about his foot ache or his walking during the race. “Now I have to go confess to my staff that I walked!” he moaned.
In the meantime, there was no walking from Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who left Serrano (and HOH) in the dust. She finished second in the category of female Representatives behind Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). Capito blew away much of the competition, finishing the three miles in 25 minutes, 55 seconds.
Just Loosening Up. Drawn, perhaps, to its poetic beauty, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) pulled into the Walt Whitman Rest Area off the New Jersey Turnpike, just north of exit 3, on Monday afternoon with his traveling companion, a younger-looking woman.
We’re not sure if he met her on J-Date, the online dating service that the single (and yes, Jewish) Congressman has used before. In fact, his office wouldn’t confirm whether the woman was his girlfriend or even a date.
Here’s what we do know:
They went inside and checked out their options — the usual stuff, Cinnabon, Nathan’s Hot Dogs and the like — then went outside separately, each carrying a bottle of water, according to an HOH informant. Our spy said in an e-mail that Sherman came out first and “then proceeded to do some very involved stretches (his back and his hamstrings) while sitting on one of the benches.”
“Some of his stretches looked like yoga moves,” our spy said, adding that the traveling companion then came outside and joined Sherman “in the hamstring stretch.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but we just had to know: Was the Congressman doing yoga at the Walt Whitman Rest Area?
Nope. Just stretches for a bad back, says his spokesman, Mike Briggs. “He was not doing yoga. He was doing exercises prescribed by the chiropractor,” Briggs said.
In fact, when we called Briggs Tuesday afternoon he said he had just spotted Sherman “waddling off to the chiropractor.”
Briggs said the Congressman had spent the weekend in New York and was on his way back to D.C. when he pulled into the rest stop. As for his road trip gal pal, Briggs was all mums the word.
Curve Ball. At this morning’s House Government Reform Committee markup, Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) will submit resolutions congratulating a pair of his district’s most accomplished athletes, Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals, the reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winner, respectively, in the National League.
No, it’s not an opportunity to make up to Major League Baseball for the panel’s high-profile hearings on steroids last year — just good old constituent service.
“These are two of the most remarkable players in Major League Baseball and we are thrilled to have them playing for the St. Louis Cardinals,” Carnahan said in a statement.
Pujols, the Cardinals’ slugging first baseman, is off to another torrid start this season, having already amassed 14 home runs in the month of April, a Major League record. Carpenter, the staff ace, is 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA.
Poor American League, though. Neither of last season’s major award winners in the American League — MVP Alex Rodriguez or Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon — have received such official congratulations from the House.
Stephanie Woodrow and Matt Reynolds contributed to this report.
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