Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, The Examiner
2007-02-09 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday. Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com .

Foley still ‘messing with the pages’

Mark Foley may have left town, but his legacy lives on.

Folks who headed to the Russell Senate Office Building for Wednesday’s 10th Annual PRISM Awards Capitol Hill Showcase (put on by the Entertainment Industries Council) noticed something slightly out of place in one of the pieces of promotional literature: Mark Foley.

The disgraced former Florida congressman seemed to be all over a program distributed Wednesday that was published last year — pre-Maf54-gate — at the EIC’s PRISM awards ceremony in Los Angeles. When they were brought out again Wednesday, more than a few found it odd the EIC was still distributing programs with Foley so prominently featured (Foley chaired the House Entertainment Industry Task Force).

Especially ironic was this Foley quote on page 21: “It’s important to highlight the success of recovery,” Foley says. “As many say, it’s one day at a time. And all of those people need the support and the affirmation that they are not suffering alone and in silence.”

A Yeas & Nays spy said, “I couldn’t believe they didn’t remove Foley’s pictures and quotes from the program. Just another example of Foley messing with the pages.”

Also at the event were Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Reps. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., and Diane Watson, D-Calif. Hosted by Melissa Rivers, it sought to showcase “outstanding accomplishments in the accurate depiction of drug, alcohol and tobacco use, addiction and related mental health issues in feature film, television and music.”

EIC spokesman David Conner said that, yes, they knew that Foley was in the outdated program, but that it was “not a big deal” and that Foley’s presence “really hadn’t come into play whatsoever.”

But even Watson felt the ghost of Foley haunting the event.

“Last year, I was standing here next to Mark Foley,” she said. “And you all know how that worked out.”

Pearls, not diamonds for Hillary

People who aren’t fans of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., say she sometimes comes off as harsh or discordant. So, as the junior senator from New York attempts to get (back) to the White House, how can she soften her image? Simple, says local jeweler Ann Hand: Wear more pearls.

Hand, who owns Ann Hand Jewelry in Georgetown, spoke Wednesday at Nathans of Georgetown and said Clinton is one of her many high-profile customers. Hand said Clinton “does like a lot of pearls,” in large part because the pearls appear softer in front of cameras. And Hand cautioned Hillary against wearing diamonds out on the campaign trail, lest she appear too bourgeois.

According to Hand, Hillary is, well, like any other woman in that “she likes pretty things.”

Hillary first became aware of Hand’s designs when businesswoman Phyllis George gave her a signature eagle pin as a gift, and Clinton has been a devout customer ever since.

Welcome to Fantasy Island

During a House debate on an alternative fuels bill Wednesday, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., sought to have a little fun with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her request for a plane big enough to fly her cross-country.

An amendment by Cantor stated that in order to lessen demand for “petroleum in aircraft, such as passenger planes with 42 business class seats capable of transcontinental flights, the nation must diversify its fuel supply.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was arguing for the amendment when Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., lumbered down to the floor to see, his words, what all the “hubbub” was.

He said he thought he heard someone yelling about “The plane, boss, the plane!” a la Tattoo on “Fantasy Island.”

We’re not sure whether that was a commentary on the amendment or McHenry’s height (he’s 5-foot-3).

New hearts for Wizards dancers

At Wednesday night’s game, the Washington Wizards’ dance team was sporting new duds, courtesy of the boss’s wife, Irene Pollin.

Pollin outfitted the dance team with T-shirts and hats emblazoned with hearts, in order to promote a day of free heart screenings at Verizon Center next Friday. The event is sponsored by Pollin’s charity, Sister to Sister, which increases awareness about women’s heart disease.

No word on what Northern Virginia Congressmen Tom Davis and Jim Moran thought of the dancers’ new garb. The pair was spotted with NoVa real estate investor Joe Robert, taking in the game from courtside floor seats with “nice full beers,” according to our source.

Think tank

“Better dinner date: Libby or Fitzgerald?”

“Scooter, as long as you don’t look for yellow cake on the menu.”

– Danielle Jones, National Journal

“Fitzgerald. At least with him you could be sure your conversation wouldn’t end up being tomorrow’s headlines.”

– Sommer Mathis, DCist.com

“Oh, please. Libby may write erotica but Fitz is sexy.”

– Ana Marie Cox, Time.com

Kristin Laubach contributed to this page.