HOH’s new favorite game of the season: Where on the Hill is ex-Rep. David Wu?
Conventional wisdom holds that when a Member resigns from office in disgrace, one keeps a low profile for a while, maybe retreats to a rural cabin or something. But because Wu avoids convention and wisdom when possible, he has chosen to take a different approach: hanging out around Capitol Hill, even on the House floor.
As a result of the Wu strategy, just about everyone has spotted Oregon’s most famous Democratic Tigger impersonator since he tendered his resignation in August.
One of the earliest sightings occurred a month after Wu stepped down.
In September, Wu was spotted — sans tiger suit — at President Barack Obama’s joint address to Congress.
The Wu has been spotted several times in the past few weeks frequenting his favorite watering hole, the freshly reopened Tune Inn.
At least one HOH spy spotted him there as recently as two weeks ago.
Never ones to take our jobs seriously, HOH’s very own editor attempted to confirm the Wu Tune Inn spottings by staking out the joint from a bar stool and booth. Our editor reports that he did not see the Wu. We arch our eyebrows in his direction, because being bellied up to the Tune Inn’s bar is our boss’s happy place.
And then there was the Capitol Christmas Tree lighting. Because what’s Christmas without Wu?
Wu was also spotted early last week walking off the House floor just after 7 p.m. He was again spotted late in the week voluntarily sitting through a House Judiciary Committee markup on anti-piracy legislation. Talk about penance!
Wu confirms he’s been on the Hill about once a week.
“I come here to see my friends,” he says.
He also says that he is not under criminal investigation for rape or sexual assault as was speculated in media reports leading up to his resignation.
“The core story was wrong,” he insists. “I didn’t want to fight it because it would cause custody issues between me and my wife.”
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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