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HOH Alumna Recalls the One That Got Away

Former Heard on the Hill scribe Emily Heil is gearing up to grab the gossip reins as co-author of the Washington Post’s Reliable Source column in just a few weeks.

But at a dinner Monday in her honor, she shared the tale of one particularly frustrating HOH item she was never able to successfully pin down.

Heil, who said she expects to formally join forces with Reliable Source vet Roxanne Roberts in mid-December, was in fine spirits at the celebratory dinner organized by Hollywood on the Potomac founder Janet Donovan at the newly refurbished Look Restaurant and Lounge at 1909 K St. NW. But Heil was forced to revisit unhappier times when HOH pressed her about missed opportunities.

Per Heil, she was once so determined to divine the secrets of Wisconsin Republican Paul D. Ryan’s hair care regimen that she visited his stylist to gather info.

(CQ Roll Call File Photo.)
(CQ Roll Call File Photo)

But instead of coming away with valuable intel — Heil said the stylist seemed to suggest she might become chattier on subsequent visits — she wound up stuck with an unflattering cut.

She described the look as “a really horrible Sharron Angle,” referring to the tea party favorite and Republican Senate nominee who failed to topple Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010.

(CQ Roll Call Photo Archives)
(CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Just as Heil finished, political talk show host and dinner guest Bill Press uncapped his head of snowy hair and informed her that he planned to get a trim from “Hannah” (Heil’s follicular tormentor) Tuesday afternoon.

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