Posted on 11/08/2001 9:27:35 AM PST by Pokey78
An explosive story in the new edition of Vanity Fair has already reverberated in the office of Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), as staffer Diana Davis resigned Tuesday for playing the lead role in the steamy kiss-and-tell article.
Written as a post-Condit survey of the social scene on the Hill, the report treats readers to a minute-by-minute account of the blond staffer's conquests and relentless networking into the wee hours of the morning.
The story opens in the Hill bar Politiki, where Davis sports what she calls her "fake 'n' bake" tan. "Amid the sea of pasty faces and dark Banana Republic suits, she stands out like a foil-wrapped candy in a box of chocolates" goes the article's description. "If Mattel ever makes a 'Washington Barbie,' 22-year-old Diana would be the perfect model."
Davis proceeds to reveal that she had a one-night-stand with a 29-year-old staffer whose sex appeal revolved around the fact that he said he knew Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas).
"He was powerful," said Davis. "He knew Tom DeLay." They had dinner at the Capital Grille, with Davis ordering lobster.
"I slept with him that night," she said. "I wish I hadn't, it was too fast. He stopped e-mailing me."
Congressman Rogers put out a statement yesterday saying that he accepted Davis' resignation because "Her comments and the contents of the article were inconsistent with the professionalism of my staff and the operation of the 8th district office."
Another staffer on the hot seat will undoubtedly be Ryan Thomas, a 25-year-old Appropriations staffer for Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) who seems to inflate his role in the budget process.
"People - and that includes Senators and Congressmen - need to talk to me, partly to try to twist my arm about the delegation of money, but also because they want to know about timing," boasts Thomas, who pursues Davis during some scenes in the story.
Thomas later huddles with Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) for 10 minutes at the Capital Grille. He proceeds to reveal the details of the conversation.
"He wanted to know the mood of the Democratic Senators, Members of the House, et cetera," said Thomas. "The Senators and Members are just too busy to deal with the minutia of every bill and every issue. They have to delegate."
Several Democratic Members, meanwhile, are furious about the magazine's portrayal of a private dinner they had at the Capital Grille on Sept. 13, which was crashed by Davis and two female friends.
The mag describes a "rowdy" get-together, during which, "one by one, cigars in hand, the men stand to give toasts before drinking deep into the red wine and breaking into fits of loud laughter."
There are even photos of the ladies posing with jovial-looking Democratic Reps. Mike Doyle (Pa.), Robert Brady (Pa.), John Larson (Conn.), John Baldacci (Maine) and Bill Pascrell (N.J.).
How could the Members be yukking it up so much just 48 hours after the worst terrorist attacks in American history?
Brady told HOH that it's a regular dinner club of Members from the Northeast who decided to keep their regular date in order to commiserate about the tragedy. They surveyed damage at the Pentagon before dinner.
"There was no party," Brady said. "We just came back from the Pentagon. I was crying."
He noted that the Members broke into song on their way out the door as his photo was being snapped. "It's a photo of me singing 'God Bless America,'" he said. "It can't get any more patriotic than that."
Doyle expressed outrage that Davis had dragged the Members into the story. In fact, the article does not suggest any untoward behavior by lawmakers.
"This is how people's reputations get wrecked," Doyle said. "If these three women were on some kind of mission, I didn't see anyone paying attention. We just happened to be sitting at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Pascrell said the Members were merely letting off steam after a brutal week. "I just felt that we were releasing our emotions," he said. "People handle grief in different ways. I have always grieved by being with close friends."
As for the photo, which shows Pascrell very close to one of the women, he's not sweating it. "I'm happily married," he said. "I told my wife about what happened. In Washington appearances are four-fifths of the game."
She is a hottie, though. So were the other two they had in the article. Personally, I think Rogers over-reacted. So, they "network" and so they run around a bit too much.
They're supposed to at that age - to an extent.
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