The Ballad of Thad

On Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took embattled Michigan GOP Rep. Thaddeus McCotter to task via poetic ballad.

With a little help from our friend and co-worker, CQ Roll Call’s Jennifer Rubio, HOH brings you “The Ballad of Thad McCotter” with lyrics by the DCCC and musical composition and arrangement by Rubio.

The Ballad of Thad McCotter

  Full story

Bare Essentials Backpedal

When we last left our heroes at the United States Senate Federal Credit Union, they were telling us that “more personal activities,” such as boob jobs, were on par with weddings and braces as necessities of life.

In the hours since, the USSFCU top brass has re-evaluated its “big plans” campaign, issuing another — more straightforward — mea culpa to consumers and Roll Call editors.

“It has come to our attention that the imagery and message in a recent marketing direct mail campaign has offended some of our membership. It was not the intention of this marketing campaign to insult, demean or in any way offend anyone in our field of membership,” the letter to patrons reads.
Full story

It Was One Heck of a Burger

Congress might hate pork, but a few Members geek out for red meat.

On Thursday, an executive from burger chain Red Robin testified on health care at a House Education and Workforce Committee — in front of one big burger fan: Nevada Republican Rep. Joe Heck.

Heck — an osteopathic physician by trade — was excited as, well, he was excited as heck because he just ate at Red Robin on Sunday! And he didn’t even know this guy was coming! Can you believe that?

“The burger was delicious!” he gushed. “Loved the bottomless fries!” Full story

Cooking Up Controversy

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

After sharing the news that a former Hill staffer was now climbing the ranks of champion barbecue sauce creators, a current Congressional insider called us out for not digging even deeper into the deliciously layered story.

John Scofield, the former House aide turned boutique lobbyist and Washington Post recipe contest winner, has welcomed some into his home who believe his wife, Jennifer Hing, is the true culinary artist of the pair.

“Those who have sampled the cooking of both John and Jen widely agree that Jen’s cooking is superior,” a leadership aide well fed by the couple assured HOH. Full story

Lawmaker Honored 33 Years Later

Rep. Jackie Speier was shot multiple times during a 1978 trip to Jonestown in Guyana. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

For every private thing we know about Members of Congress, there are still amazing stories that go unnoticed. This is one such story. Two, really: one of generosity and the other of bravery.

Former Rep. Pete McCloskey (R-Calif.) was wounded twice during the Korean War, and he’s carried two Purple Hearts that honor his service for decades. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) was a young Congressional staffer when she was wounded — shot five times — during a 1978 fact-finding mission to Jonestown in Guyana.
Full story

Check Before You Reply (All)

Another dispatch from the wild, wonderful world of the Capitol Hill listserv: the “Reply All Edition.”

On Tuesday morning, an email went out from Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s office to the GOP legislative directors’ listserv.
Full story

Candidate Becomes One With His Campaign

There are Congressional candidates consumed by their life’s ambition. And then there’s VoteforEddie.com.

According to the Associated Press, aspiring lawmaker Eddie Gonzalez legally changed his name to his campaign Web address. The independent candidate is running for office in Florida’s 25th Congressional district, the House seat currently held by Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

Full story

Boobs: They’re Just Like Braces

The United States Senate Federal Credit Union is making our week!

Earlier this week we got our mangy mitts on a new USSFCU flier featuring a headless buxom blonde. Yesterday, an online petition began circulating that demanded the credit union apologize for the mailing.

In response, the organization sent this email to customers:

Good Afternoon [XXX],

Thank you for your feedback regarding our recent mailings.

We sincerely regret the message we conveyed did not meet with your approval.   Our marketing efforts have evolved with the times as we seek to relate to various life events of our membership.   These may include paying for such traditional things as for weddings, children’s braces, and purchasing autos but also more personal activities that many people seek nowadays.   We recognize any of these may not directly relate to anyone’s personal situation, and we will make every attempt to exclude you from future mailings.

We appreciate you letting know of your concern, and will keep your feedback in mind in the future.

Sincerely,

Sophia Fearwell

Sr. Member Services Officer

HOH’s shorter, revised version of the USSFCU response:

Dear Offended Customer:

If you don’t like our marketing strategy, please unsubscribe.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union

Remembering Chuck Brown

Tens of thousands of locals  flocked to the historic Howard Theatre on Tuesday to pay respects to the “Godfather of go-go” Chuck Brown, a Washington, D.C., figure who helped define the city for more than 40 years.
Full story

Gift Cards, Workshops Empower Hill Climbers

While most of Capitol Hill’s professional community contentedly coasts through summer, the overachieving collegians attending the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Foster Youth Internship will be kicking their career search into overdrive.
Full story

To Green or Not to Green …

And now a dispatch from the informative world of Capitol Hill listservs: Gene Green prints green, even though green may not be seen.

Let’s start at the beginning.

McClatchy Co.’s Washington bureau recently sent out a mass solicitation to Congressional press secretaries asking for lawmakers’ tax returns. The scribes asked because “[taxes] are emerging as a key election issue.”
Full story

A United Wisconsin … in Maryland?

(Ryan Teague Beckwith/CQ Roll Call)

On Sunday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) downplayed any national repercussions if Wisconsin voters fail to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

“It’s an election that’s based in Wisconsin,” the Democratic National Committee chairwoman said in an interview on C-SPAN.

Sure, she said, it might be important for the rest of the country to see what happens, but “at the end of the day,” it will be “a Wisconsin-based election.”

Above is a photograph of a “Recall Walker” sign spotted over the weekend. It was taken in Hyattsville, Md., about 800 miles from Wisconsin.

USSFCU Fills Cups Like Double Ds

Forget AAA credit ratings, the Senate Federal Credit Union is thinking more along the lines of double-D status for its loyal customers.

In a folding mailer sent recently to its patrons, the bank — unaffiliated with the Senate but with a branch in Hart Senate Office Building — asks “Got Big Plans?” before having unsuspecting customers open a pop-up centerfold featuring a headless torso of a buxom blonde.

Full story

History Takes to the High Seas

Sailors serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln will be on the front lines of Hollywood’s embellishment of the life and times of our 16th president courtesy of the special screening of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” coming their way.

The revisionist tale further burdens the already revolution-torn POTUS, pitting the commander in chief against not only societal ills (slavery) and political devastation (secession), but also an army of power-hungry bloodsuckers. The historical reboot invades theaters this June.

“We are pleased and proud to have this opportunity to visit with the men and women serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln. We hope they enjoy our film and know how much everyone in the United States appreciates their service,” producer Jim Lemley said of the special event. Film stars Benjamin Walker, Anthony Mackie, Erin Wasson, as well as director Timur Bekmambetov and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith are all expected to attend the premiere aboard the Nimitz class aircraft carrier.

Movie execs plan to screen the film at two other undisclosed military bases this summer.

Take It Off

Pro-choice activists went on the offensive this week after one of their own got dressed down by a flight crew for donning what American Airlines personnel deemed to be an over-the-top T-shirt.

(See the offending shirt after the jump.)

Full story