Yeas and Nays: Monday, Feb. 12

Fur flies at hearing over authorship of statements 

Politicians and celebrities always get asked who helped them write their books and speeches.

But that’s not usually the case for congressional witnesses, especially when they’re grieving widows.

Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on private contractors in Iraq. The star witnesses were four women whose contractor husbands were killed and dragged through the streets of Fallujah.

When it was time for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to speak, he said to the women, “Although I don’t think your testimony today is particularly germane to the oversight of this committee, I am deeply sorry for the losses that you’ve had. … One question I have is, the opening statement, who wrote it?”

Witness Katy Helvenston-Wettengel replied that it was a “compilation of all four of us. We all sent in our thoughts and feelings to [attorney] Dean Callahan and he compiled it, because we were told we only had five minutes.”

After Issa exited for a vote elsewhere, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., sitting as a guest of the committee, said she took “exception to the question about who wrote the testimony, because I think clearly the implication was that somehow these wonderful women couldn’t possibly have written that wonderful, heartfelt testimony and that it took a lawyer in order to put it together, and I resent that very much and I wanted to just put that on the record.”

When Issa returned and was informed of Schakowsky’s comments, he asked them to be stricken from the record, calling it “disparaging” and “implying that my question to the witness was related to having been a woman outside the ordinary course of business.”

Next up was Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., who pointed out the elephant in the room. “I’ve only been a member here for five years,” said Lynch. “I’ve only sat through several hundred, maybe 1,000 hearings, and that is the first time as a member of Congress that I have heard any witnesses asked who wrote their opening statements.

“And I might say, also, that if that question is a fair one, then you might ask how many members up here at this table wrote their own opening statements. You might be surprised at those answers.”

Helvenston-Wettengel felt compelled to add, “Good point.”

NAM doesn’t stop for Valentine’s Day

Representing nearly 13,000 companies, the National Association of Manufacturers is a powerful political force. But are they powerful enough to convince the 110th Congress’ freshman class to opt out of a nice, romantic Valentine’s Day dinner? Well, they’ll find out on Wednesday, since NAM made a slight scheduling goof by holding its congressional reception on Valentine’s Day, during those prime dining hours: 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Senior Vice President for Public and External Affairs Patrick Cleary good-naturedly jokes that this could prove who NAM’s real fans are.

“This is the acid test,” Cleary says. “I mean, we hear from members all the time about how much they love manufacturing. This is one way to find out who really loves manufacturing. Spend Valentine’s Day with us!”

Perhaps they’d have better luck if they invited Nancy Kerrigan. …

The Foundation Fighting Blindness is bringing the two-time Olympic figure skating medalist to D.C. on Wednesday for its fifth annual “For the Love of Sight” party at the Mellon Auditorium.

Lead Better

Although he’s gunning for the nation’s No. 1 spot, Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential effort received a boost Saturday from No. 2 ... pencils that is. As DraftObama.org representatives tried to sign up volunteers at Obama’s rally Saturday in Springfield, Ill., the pens began to freeze in the 10-degree weather. That’s nothing that a pencil can’t solve, however, and they went on to recruit volunteers for the rest of the day.

Cheney’s botched hunting trip turns 1

The scars may have gone away but our memories haven’t: Yes it was one year ago yesterday that Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot his lawyer, Harry Whittington.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Whittington did not return calls on the matter, but the anniversary has not gone unnoticed. Speaker Nancy Pelosi included the one year anniversary in the 2007 calendar she sent to Democrats last week. And Australia is concerned that Cheney may take up hunting when he visits there next week: In Australia’s “The Age” newspaper, writer Tom Hyland recently put one citizen’s fears to rest.

“Betty Jones of North Hobart can relax. ‘Don’t shoot!” she wrote in a letter to the Tasmanian press. PLEASE assure us that Dick Cheney is coming to Tasmania to fish and not to shoot.’ The good news for Betty Jones is that the U.S. vice president, who arrives in Australia on an official visit next week, did plan to go to the island state for a spot of fly fishing, not hunting.”

Rove’s daddy skills

Terry McAuliffe’s book party Thursday at the Park Hyatt may have brought out lots of prominent Washingtonians, but Karl Rove was definitely not one of them.

Instead, Rove spent the evening at the Metropolitan Club for an alumni/parents reception organized by the local chapter of his son’s Texas university. What a good daddy. ...

Speakeasy

“There’s nothing to forgive. He had mentioned it on the show, but she’s fine.”

– an anonymous aide to Oprah Winfrey, telling the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the talk show host doesn’t mind that Sen. Barack Obama didn’t announce for president on her show

Media mix

After spending 10 years at the New Republic, Fred Barnes in 1995 became one of the founding editors of the Weekly Standard, where he remains today. He also is a co-host of “The Beltway Boys” on Fox News Channel. He gave us his Media Mix via e-mail.

Q: What book are you reading right now?

N.T. Wright’s “The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is”

Q: What’s the first Web site you check in the morning?

RealClearPolitics.com

Q: What’s the last movie you saw?

“United 93”

Q: What’s your favorite TV show?

“SportsCenter”

Q: What are you listening to right now?

Michael W. Smith’s new CD, “Stand”