Another One Bites the Dust
Roll Call Staff
Surprise, surprise: More staff upheaval in the office of Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.). The latest casualty is Fred Asbell, the chief of staff to the increasingly eccentric Senate candidate.
In an e-mail titled “Fred in transition,” Asbell informed his counterparts in other Florida Members’ offices that he will be leaving his job Friday.
“While the past year has truly been an exciting adventure, a time-sensitive business opportunity has arisen that I cannot pass up.
In addition, I will be providing political consultation to her Senate campaign,” he wrote.
Asbell follows a long trail of aides and advisers who have ditched Harris, including, most recently, general consultant Ed Rollins. Harris also lost pollster Ed Goeas and Adam Goodman, her longtime media consultant and close adviser.
It’s a good thing then that Harris is getting that guide dog, as The New York Times reported Wednesday. Harris said she plans to walk around everywhere with a guide dog once she wins her Senate race, according to the newspaper.
Given the state of the polls in her race, that dog doesn’t seem likely to be learning the corridors of the Senate any time soon.
Nobody Puts Specter in the Corner. Wow — to think that the scathingly scolding letter Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) sent to Vice President Cheney on Wednesday may have had something to do with Cheney snubbing Specter at a buffet lunch!
Specter’s three-page letter to Cheney, which ripped the administration to shreds for pulling the old executive privilege card a thousand times too many, made reference to something that clearly irked Specter:
Cheney blew off Snarlin’ Arlen in the buffet line at the Senate Republicans’ Tuesday caucus luncheon. As in, didn’t say so much as “boo” (or even any of his more colorful language) when Specter walked past Cheney at least twice.
In his letter, Specter said he was furious to learn that Cheney lobbied GOP Senators on the Judiciary Committee to oppose Specter’s effort to hold an oversight hearing on the administration’s use of consumer telephone records in its electronic surveillance program. Specter said he was “surprised, to say the least” that Cheney did that without first informing the chairman.
“This was especially perplexing since we both attended the Republican Senators caucus lunch yesterday and I walked directly in front of you on at least two occasions enroute from the buffet to my table,” Specter wrote to Cheney.
If Cheney thought he was going to win the “First Human Ever to Ignore Arlen Specter and Get Away With It” award, boy was he wrong.
What Would Jesus Do? What was Senate Chaplain Barry Black doing on the floor chatting with Senators during Wednesday morning’s vote on the gay marriage amendment? One tipster wondered whether Black was lobbying Senators, or perhaps just reminding them to think about that four-letter guiding rule: WWJD?
Meg Saunders, a spokeswoman for Black, says it was neither. Black was just using the vote as an opportunity to get some face time with a key part of his his constituency. “He’s been doing that now for probably about a year,” she said. “He tries to be on the floor as much as possible during votes. A time for him to interact with them.”
His being on the floor during what ended up being a 49-48 vote against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage “wasn’t out of the ordinary, and [was] not because of any particular vote,” Saunders said.
She also reminded HOH that the Senate Chaplain’s office is nonpartisan and nonpolitical. To which we say, Amen!
Queen of the Hill? What is confidence? Just ask Queen Latifah. She was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to promote the first annual National Women’s Confidence Day.
Latifah got loads of attention from gawking staffers and Members, but her Queenness didn’t pull much weight when Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga showed up.
When it was time for the singer-actress to leave the Hill, she had to wait on a park bench at the corner of South Capitol Street and Independence Avenue for what seemed like an eternity, as streets were blocked off for the departure of the visiting prime minister.
“She looks amazing! Smart grey suit and blouse,” one smitten House Democratic aide said.
Finally, the queen’s carriage arrived: a Lincoln black stretch limo, which pulled up at the cab stand in front of Longworth.
Doris Roberts, who played the mom on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” was also tooling around the Hill Tuesday to promote a new film called “Lion in the House,” documenting five families dealing with cancer.
Roberts hung out with House GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (Ohio), whose nonprofit, Hope Street Kids, helped secure funding for the documentary. Pryce established the nonprofit after her daughter Caroline died of cancer in 1999 at age 9.
Please send your hot tips, juicy gossip or comments to hoh@rollcall.com.
Taylor: Preventing Another Underwear Bomber
March 19, 4:09 p.m.
The intelligence community faces challenges daily. No example is more emblematic of the problems faced than the so-called underwear bomber of 2009. As threats emerge, the hunt for “persons of interest” must occur in a more reliable and efficient manner because the consequences of inaction can be catastrophic. Read Full Article
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