A Case of One Man's Trash, or Hitting Below the Belt?

Ambassador Melvin Sembler, left, and his wife call Richard Bradbury's trash-can discovery "an invasion into the sanctity of . . . our bedroom."

A strange court case involving Melvin Sembler, the U.S. ambassador to Italy and a major GOP fundraiser and buddy of the Bush family, is heating up in Florida.

Sembler is suing Richard R. Bradbury, who has spent years rummaging through Sembler's garbage, picketing and raising a stink about Straight, a controversial drug treatment program founded by Sembler and his wife, Betty.

The case focuses on a penile pump that Bradbury lifted from Sembler's garbage, then posted on eBay last year for $300,000. Sembler, 73, underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 1990 -- and, according to court papers, was prescribed the device. He calls Bradbury a "sadistic" stalker who tried to extort money from him.

"This is an invasion into the sanctity of our home and our bedroom," the couple state in the legal documents filed last month in St. Petersburg, Fla., where the Semblers obtained a temporary injunction against Bradbury, forcing him to keep away from their home there. They also demand he return the pump as well as other materials. Bradbury says he recovered flight schedules for foreign officials and U.S. lawmakers, along with "Republican party materials and strategy documents, personal campaign contribution documents and correspondence" from the Semblers' trash.

Bradbury, 38, calls himself an advocate for victims who, like him, say they were harmed as adolescents by Straight's practices. According to news reports, Straight closed in 1993, amid lawsuits and a Florida state audit that found "a propensity for abuse or excessive force to be used." Sembler's biography on the State Department's Web site says, "During its 17 years of existence, Straight successfully graduated more than 12,000 young people nationwide from its remarkable program." Sembler and his wife remain active in the Drug Free America Foundation.

"They're very philanthropic, very well-meaning people," the Semblers' attorney, Leonard Englander, told us earlier this week. "Nobody should have to endure this." A judge yesterday refused Bradbury's motion to dismiss the case.

The legal battle has been covered extensively on TheStraights.com, a site run by Wesley Fager, 58, of Oakton. "I was in the cult. My son was in it. He was significantly harmed by it," says Fager, who unsuccessfully sued the group in the early 1990s in Fairfax Circuit Court. "The story is not about a man's penis pump -- it's about child abuse."

Bradbury wouldn't comment, but his attorney, Thomas McGowan, said, "I see this as a First Amendment case. . . . There is no right of privacy in garbage."

For Arena, Celebs Survive the Footlights

• Now here's a wide-open question if we've ever heard one: Who's Washington's biggest conniver? The answer is hard to pin down, but Arena Stage did its best during a benefit Monday night at the theater. Washington celebs became thespians for a night -- well, they played themselves -- in "Conniver '04: Legislation Lagoon," a spoof of the CBS reality hit "Survivor."

"Survivor" spoofers Gwen Ifill, Holly Morris and Kathleen Matthews. (Scott Suchman)

Channel 7 news anchor Kathleen Matthews, presidential sister-in-law Margaret Bush, her good pal and fitness guru Denise Austin, biographer Kitty Kelley, entrepreneur Mark Ein, Sam Solovey of "The Apprentice" fame, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and other D.C. insiders duked it out as part of the Polit, the Pundit or the Entrepreneur tribe, with witty one-liners penned by playwright-director Nick Olcott.

"Since when does D.C. have anything to do with reality?" quipped faux director J. Fred Schiffman, the Washington actor who explained the difference between Washington and television: "When they say 'hop into bed with someone' they mean to co-sponsor a bill."

Austin remarked on the, ahem, physiques of the Polit tribe, saying: "There's a reason it's called a 'seat in Congress.' "

So who is the best conniver in Washington? All of 'em! In an unheard-of vote, each voted himself or herself off "Legislation Lagoon."

The performance raised a record $200,000 for the theater -- $10,000 of which was given during intermission.

SQUIBS

• Jordan's King Abdullah postponed a meeting with President Bush this week, but he found time to lunch in Los Angeles on Monday with Hollywood heavyweights Tom Hanks, John Travolta, lawyer Bert Field and uberlobbyist Jack Valenti. The group candidly expressed their views on Iraq and the Middle East, but no word on what those views were.

• B.D., one of the main characters in the popular cartoon "Doonesbury" -- with which we happily share this page -- has been badly injured while fighting in Iraq. Creator Garry Trudeau, who hasn't been shy about addressing controversial topics in the strip, told the Associated Press: "It's a task any writer should approach with great humility, but I think it's worth doing. We are at war, and we can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individuals."

• We've learned Jay Leno of "The Tonight Show" will handle host duties at the White House Correspondents Dinner on May 1 at the Hilton Washington.

Annals of Puffery

An Occasional Verbatim Press Release

• "WendyDiamond's new book 'What a Lucky Dog! How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs,' has taken over the dating world by storm! Wendy went on 120 dates with men of all breeds to research the connection between men and their dogs, compiling the valuable information into this amazing book to help singles and spouses alike in their struggle to understand the opposite sex. . . . She is a riot and will let your readers know what male breeds (men) are the cleanest, friendliest, most loyal and most likely to stray.

"Wendy Diamond is traveling to Washington [Friday] to host Jeep's 2004 Yappy Hour event at the Fairmont Washington, D.C. , to raise funds for the Washington Animal Rescue League's 90th Anniversary Rebuilding Campaign. Yappy Hour is a doggie cocktail party with special guests Darnerien McCants from the Washington Redskins and John McLaughlin from 'The McLaughlin Group,' where Washingtonians will be able to put Wendy's valuable dating information into practice."

With Anne Schroeder