Let's Warm Up With Some Softball, Er, Baseball Questions . . .

But she didn't respond to his numerous written requests for information, so on Friday he sent her an invitation to come up to the Hill for a hearing on April 18 to talk things over.

We're hearing the State Department is preparing detailed written responses to his questions and should get back to him in the next couple of days.

Unclear whether that's going to obviate the need for a hearing.

'Questions Unanswered'

Meanwhile, Waxman has called in Susan B. Ralston for a little deposition on Thursday. The former top aide to Karl Rove resigned in October after an oversight committee report showed she took gifts from disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

In a letter Friday, Waxman said he wanted to chat with her about "questions unanswered" in that report, including what actions White House officials may have taken to benefit Abramoff and his pals and why officials used "Republican National Committee and other non-governmental e-mail accounts to communicate with Mr. Abramoff about official government business."

Oldies but Absentees

Someone, most likely an aging baby boomer with sticky fingers, has been lifting CDs from the music library at the Voice of America, which uses them for its radio shows. Looks like an inside job. The library is open only to employees. The M.O. is that the person goes into the stacks and takes the CD but leaves the plastic case.

The thefts were noticed recently when someone tried to check out a Judy Collins disc but found only an empty case. In fact, the entire Collins collection is gone. A check of other collections showed that Peter, Paul & Mary and Bob Dylan recordings were also missing. Ditto Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, the Beatles and the Stones.

"In the near future," the International Broadcasting Bureau said in an e-mail, "security cameras will be installed in the Music Library. If the theft problem continues, library procedures will be changed" so only library staff are permitted access to the collections.

The VOA and the music library budgets are getting hammered, so there's not much money to replace the CDs. So "please return them at your first opportunity. No questions will be asked."

Social Security Firing Sets Off Rumors

The Social Security Administration rarely dumps a political appointee, but Martin H. Gerry, deputy commissioner for disability and income security programs, one of the more powerful policy jobs at Social Security, has been booted out.

The agency has a new commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, who is under pressure from Congress to deal with backlogged disability claims, a process that Gerry had tried to streamline.

Employees said Gerry was escorted from the building, his computer seized and the locks in his office changed. His firing on March 16 was rather abrupt but "not totally uncommon" for a political appointee, Gerry told our colleague Stephen Barr.

"I've heard of it happening before. It was harsh," Gerry said.

His departure set off a wave of rumors that Gerry was snarled in allegations of travel abuses or improper contract activities, but Gerry said that "as far as I know, there isn't any investigation going on. Wouldn't even know what it would be about."

He added: "Obviously, they wanted me to leave quickly and not talk to people there about what was happening."

Social Security isn't talking about what happened either, except to confirm that Gerry is no longer employed by the agency.