Not a Green-Letter Day on Capitol Hill

By Al Kamen
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

B arbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, asked Vice President Cheney on Nov. 1 for documents on the White House's reported watering down of testimony by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about global warming's harmful effects on public health.

She never received a response, so she tried again on July 8. Three days later, she got a cordial reply from the ever-affable David Addington, Cheney's chief of staff, noting that "we have no record that [Boxer] sent any letter on or about that date." (Boxer's office called that day and received confirmation from Cheney's office, but White House recordkeeping has been spotty of late, and the e-mail system is most unreliable.)

In any event, Addington said Cheney's office would review Boxer's request and "respond to you promptly." Cheney's staff even called Boxer's staff Friday with the news that his letter was on its way. By fax? E-mail? Bicycle messenger? Carrier pigeon?

Not exactly. The letter was delivered by hand to Boxer's office by a Cheney aide who'd been driven, apparently in a White House car, up to the Dirksen Senate Office Building -- a distance of about 1 1/2 miles (and then back). We're told this is customary procedure for these things.

Clearly no worries about carbon footprints.

Idle Time

Perhaps the White House hadn't gotten around to reading a letter the day before from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urging President Bush to stop wasting gas on Capitol Hill.

"Each and every day, there are likely dozens, if not hundreds of federal government SUVs and sedans idling for hours in Washington alone," Grassley wrote, "while waiting for their passengers. Some of the biggest culprits of this practice are vehicles attending to cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries and assistant secretaries."

Sometimes maybe the idling is necessary, Grassley said, "but I would imagine that in the overwhelming majority of the situations there is no reason for a car or SUV to remain idling for hours on end."

Well, the VIPs need to step into fully cooled-off cars. Besides, it's Grassley's fault. If lawmakers would stop having all these hearings, then officials wouldn't have to go up there.

Russert's Road

The House yesterday passed a Senate-approved bill naming a portion of U.S. Route 20A in Orchard Park, N.Y., near Buffalo, the " Timothy J. Russert Highway." The road leads to the stadium used by the late newscaster's beloved Buffalo Bills.

Russert, longtime host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and one of the most decent people in this town, died June 13. President Bush is expected to sign the measure.

Just a Reminder

State Department folks say they don't think there was any particular incident that sparked a worldwide cable from Washington to remind diplomats that they "should not in any way abet sex trafficking or solicit people in prostitution." But several Loop Fans wrote to tell us they're convinced it must have been the bizarre case of one Gons Gutierrez Nachman-- a Foreign Service officer who's facing sentencing in federal court in Alexandria on child pornography charges.

In late February, prosecutors charged Nachman, 42, with making videos of himself having sex with girls as young as 14 in Congo and Brazil, where he was vice consul for several years. Prosecutors said he had his maid film the sex, which they said occurred "inside United States provided housing."

In April, Nachman copped a plea to possession of child pornography but acknowledged making the videos. Prosecutors also accused him of pressuring attractive Brazilian visa applicants for sex, but those allegations were not part of the criminal case.

Shortly after the hearing, Nachman, looking at nine to 11 years in prison under federal guidelines and held in jail pending sentencing, asked the judge in the case, Gerald Bruce Lee, to preside over his marriage to his 21-year-old fiancee, a Brazilian woman who lives in Maryland. The judge turned down the request.

Sentencing, which had been set for Friday, has been rescheduled for Aug. 22. Get there early for good seats.

Karzai: A Lover, Not a Fighter

This presidential campaign features war rooms on steroids, with each side wasting not a second to disparage the other. So late Friday afternoon, Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant fired off an e-mail rebuking Sen. Barack Obama for his criticism of Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai.

Here's the e-mail sent to reporters:

Subject: RNC React to Obama's Criticism of Karzai in CNN interview

All -- CNN just aired an interview where Obama asserts "the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker" -- ignoring the multiple assignation attempts on President Karzai. Here is an RNC response:

"Barack Obama had no interest in Afghanistan until he started running for president . . . yet he is audacious enough to assert that President Karzai has 'not gotten out of the bunker'. Obama's words are naively out-of-touch with reality . . . " -- Alex Conant, RNC Spokesman

Karzai constantly fends off advances from fashion models and movie stars. Maybe it's that hat? Or the cape?

Dissent Writ Small

President Bush, brushing aside opposition from human rights activists, has decided to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing next month. But that doesn't mean critics of China's dreadful human rights record can't find ways to record their views. Take the recently signed supplemental appropriations bill for foreign operations, which contained this little tidbit:

TIBET Sec. 1412. . . . [U]p to $5,000,000 shall be made available to establish a United States Consulate in Lhasa, Tibet. (b) The Department of State should not consent to opening a consular post in the United States by the People's Republic of China until such time as the People's Republic of China consents to opening a United States consular post in Lhasa, Tibet.

Notice, however, the use of the word "should." That means that while State can give the Chicoms another consulate in this country, the department knows that folks on the Hill will not be happy. Meanwhile, that $5 million is likely to remain "available" for a long time.

Sound, Fury

On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that President Bush has nominated Marine Col. William M. Faulkner"for appointment to the rank of brigadier general." The announcement continued: "Faulkner is currently serving as the commander, 3d Marine Logistics Group in Okinawa, Japan."

And F. Scott Fitzgerald said there were no second acts in American lives.