Katherine the Great Update
Roll Call Staff
When last we heard from ex-Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) — who surely would be in the inaugural class of the HOH Hall of Fame, were there such a thing — she was sitting in the gallery at the State of the Union address last month and reportedly handing out business cards.
HOH must admit, beyond that, he still doesn’t know quite what Harris has been up to since her highly enjoyable tenure in Congress ended, and he couldn’t reach her for comment for this item. But at least he can report where her car is.
As an incredulous HOH tipster put it — under the subject line “WTF?” — “Katherine Harris still parks her $100,000 BMW convertible in the Cannon HOB parking garage.”
HOH believes the value of Harris’ lovely BMW 645ci convertible coupe is probably more like $70,000, but he can confirm that the ex-lawmaker has indeed been parking it regularly in the Cannon House Office Building since she lost her day job. The car was there Friday evening, in the same spot where she always parked when she actually worked in that building.
Is that kosher? The car still had a medallion hanging in it from the 109th Congress, and a House Administration aide said Friday that House officials were still in the process of distributing parking permits for the 110th Congress. So for now, cars with permits from the 109th are being allowed in the garages. After that, Harris may have to find somewhere else to park the car when she’s visiting her old digs. HOH misses her already.
F---ing Communications Commission Reform. Somehow it escaped HOH’s attention until last week that in late January, Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) lost his ... well, got pretty explicit during a radio appearance on “The Lars Larson Show.”
DeFazio was discussing President Bush’s administration’s Iraq policy with the host and got progressively more worked up as the discussion went on.
“There are some people in the administration who have what they call the ‘greater chaos theory,’” DeFazio explained. “They admit they’ve totally f---ed up. Whoops, I mean screwed up.”
“We took that out, Peter,” Larson reassured DeFazio, after the show’s producers had impressively managed to hit the “bleep” button before the lawmaker finished his epithet.
“You know, if you would get the FCC to get off our backs, you could use language like that,” Larson continued.
That led to a discussion of whether any previous politicians had ever cursed on the program, with Larson concluding that, at the very least, DeFazio was the first Democratic officeholder to drop the F-bomb on his show. What an honor.
As for the possibility of FCC reform, bad bleeping luck for Larson, DeFazio is on the wrong committee for that.
Pop Quiz. HOH has told you before about how important new House Administration Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.) is, according to her own official biography and press releases.
Well, it turns out the hyperbolic press release bug is infectious when it comes to the subject of Millender-McDonald. Witness the following recently issued release from the Library of Congress:
“As the nation celebrates the history of African-Americans in February, teachers nationwide will be quizzing students on their knowledge of black history. For example, who is the first African-American woman in history to hold the position of chairwoman of the powerful Committee on House Administration?
“The answer is Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, who is delivering the African American History Month keynote address at the Library of Congress on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 1:00 p.m.”
Now, HOH does not mean to belittle this Thursday’s speech or its important topic. He simply enjoyed the thought of teachers all across the land asking their eager young students important historical questions about ... the House Administration Committee.
By the way, HOH has momentarily forgotten: Which House committee is it again that handles oversight and budget authorization for the Library of Congress, including for the Library’s public affairs office? Oh yeah, now he remembers.
Nailed It. HOH doesn’t know about you, but he’s pretty tired of the standard fundraising circuit: steakhouses, lobbying firms, skyboxes ... yawn.
That’s why he’s always happy to see it when Members get a little creative with their invitations, even if the events are designed in such a way that HOH would never be invited.
For example, on Jan. 23, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) invited donors to join her for “manicures and muffins” at Capitol Nails over on Second Street Northeast.
What did it cost to get some grooming time with the new House ethics committee chairwoman? For political action committee hosts, it was $5,000; for PAC sponsors, $2,500; for individual hosts or individual sponsors, it was $2,100.
That must have been some expensive nail polish, and HOH hopes there were some of those delicious lemon poppy seed muffins. Most importantly, at least it was different.
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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