On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL Iron Mike Forgotten amid the various 5oth-birthday bashes for the First Lady—she had at least three major parties, and planned and organized the two Chicago ones herself—was the 43rd...
...He loves playing to the press up there," the source says, "and he knows he's going to have to go back there if he's going to stay in politics...
...ambassadorship by fellow cigar aficionado Bill Clinton, it was a dream come true...
...Ben Stein takes a different view...
...According to the source, "Gingrich looked Livingston in the eye and, in front of his leadership team, asked him what he thought he was doing including testing standards in the bill without their go-ahead...
...The headband's first return engagement came when she chaired a White House conference on children on October 23...
...If he'd wanted to be HUD's regional director in New York, he should have asked for that job instead...
...Because Israel would stand in the direct line of fire of these weapons, "the prime minister let it be known that Talbott was a very sore spot in Israel's dealings with the United States...
...Second, it would give him legal access to the world's choicest cigars...
...ON THE PROWL Iron Mike Forgotten amid the various 5oth-birthday bashes for the First Lady—she had at least three major parties, and planned and organized the two Chicago ones herself—was the 43rd birthday of White House press secretary Mike McCurry...
...According to a HUD source, almost every press conference Cuomo has held in the past year has been in New York—where Cuomo has at one time or another had his eye on everything from the mayor's office to the governor's mansion...
...She got an earful about Talbott from Netanyahu during their visit in Israel," a State Department source tells the Prowler...
...Even brother-in-law Van Gordon Sauter took a pass...
...People in the room later said they were prepared to hold him back if he jumped over the desk...
...Now Armey and his staff are at it again—but this time no one's buying it...
...Talbott made his career during the Cold War as a Russophile nonpareil, and is notoriously soft with his Russian counterparts on these and other issues...
...But the two 2 almost came to blows in late October over compromise language about national testing standards in the Labor and Health and Human Services spending bill...
...He's beginning to think that maybe Graham and his cabal were on to something...
...Cuomophobia New York Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has sworn to stymie plans by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo to move HUD's entire enforcement and investigative team from Washington to New York City—presumably as a prelude to a Cuomo run for Moynihan's Senate seat...
...mission...
...Testy Unraveling House Appropriations Como mittee Chairman Bob Livingston used to be one of Newt Gingrich's most loyal o supporters...
...He simply smiled and nodded...
...Cuomo buried his funding request to cover the transfer in last year's HUD budget, and seems frequently to irritate the senator...
...He threw a fit...
...There was always a sense that Andy was a lightweight, and moving most of a staff that has always been at headquarters to what amounts to the boondocks is just politically amateurish...
...Maybe Jerry will call Jude Wanniski...
...After his radio show lost its syndication deal earlier this year, leaving it to be heard only in Oakland's East Bay area, Jerry transferred his "official residence" to the posh Oakland Hills...
...Says a Democratic colleague: "It sounds a lot like bad Clinton material, all very warm and 14 December 1997 The American Spectator fuzzy, not very specific...
...Ofi The American Spectator • December 1997 15...
...She used to wear them all the time," an aide to the first lady tells the Prowler, "because she thought it made her look more like the typical Little Rock housewife...
...Richardson used to run up monthly tabs in the high hundreds at cigar stores in Washington and New York, with a preference for tobacco from the Dominican Republic...
...A Moynihan staffer claims that the senator wasn't thrilled with President Clinton's choice of Cuomo for the HUD job to begin with...
...The only way Democrats were going to support the bill was with testing standards," says the source...
...First, it would dramatically increase the frequency of his travels to his favorite Third World hot spots...
...Along with nearly two dozen colleagues—including Oklahoma's Steve Largent and Bill Goodling from Pennsylvania, both involved in the July intrigue—Graham denounced Gingrich's leadership at an angry press conference...
...Livingston stormed out, and is now telling friends he expects to lose his Appropriations chairmanship next term...
...They agreed to slip in the compromise language, then get it killed at the final House-Senate conference...
...Turn Off This Strobe Light Secretary of State Madeleine Albright approached Vice President Al Gore at least twice in October with a special request—to ask him to speak to President Clinton about his good friend, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott...
...In the past six months she's been looking for something new to soften her image...
...The Speaker knew that, and Livingston knew that...
...No Fumar When globetrotting congressman Bill Richardson was named to the U.N...
...He has acquired a reputation as a fussy customer, endlessly debating the merits of various body lotions, shampoos, and other beauty products...
...In the April 1992 TAS he wrote: "Has anyone drawn the obvious point about that hair-controlling thing, that headband of jet black she always wears to keep her brains from exploding outward in rage...
...Armey Disarmed Back in the first months of the late to4th Congress, much was made of efforts by House Majority Leader Dick Armey to woo moderate and liberal Republicans and moderate Blue Dog Democrats...
...The hirsute presidential confidant is said to drop big bucks at the eft boutique in the Dupont Circle neighborhood...
...Surprise guests included former Carter press secretary Jody Powell and Reagan-Bush flak Marlin Fitzwater, who in toasting McCurry said he "praised the Lord that [Mike] has the job for this president and not us...
...A committee source tells the Prowler that Gingrich had okayed the language after promising Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott he'd get the bill through the House—which was impossible without crucial Democratic support...
...Amid muted laughter, McCurry said nothing...
...Gingrich saw Graham's performance on closed-circuit TV—and promptly called a meeting of the House leadership in the Speaker's Room in the Capitol...
...Not Henry Waxman What Clinton insider (male) has a weakness for pedicures, manicures, and hot-wax hair removal at a tony Washington body care salon...
...In "Dear Colleague" memos to just about every Republican member and a few select Democrats, Armey talks of Republicans "taking control of their own destiny" and "redirecting efforts...
...Color the Bay Brown Former California governor Jerry Brown, currently a radio talk-show host in Berkeley, made it official in late October: he's running for mayor of Oakland...
...But that tactic didn't sit well with South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, a staunch opponent of national standards and one of the rebel Republicans who sought Gingrich's ouster from the Speakership last July...
...Livingston was stunned...
...Brown's mayoral bid may go the way of his show—so far he's been unable to find a political consultant willing to manage his campaign...
...At least one observer came away "amazed" at the frequency of his visits—pedicures every ten days—as well as the extent of the wax jobs, which covered "large portions" of his body...
...Head of Steam In the latest Sisyphean effort to remake her image, Hillary Rodham Clinton has returned to a standby from her Arkansas days: the headband...
...Livingston reportedly began slamming his fists on Gingrich's desk and swearing at the speaker...
...Not surprisingly he's disillusioned with the Speaker," says a former House colleague close to Livingston...
...Moynihan, who isn't expected to run for re-election in 2000, is well placed to foil Cuomo's plans: he's the ranking minority member on the Senate Finance Committee, before which part of HUD's funding is still up for debate...
...I hate to say Armey's lost his edge—or something worse—but his exhortations just don't have the same oomph they once had...
...These members would find themselves inundated by thoughtful policy papers and memos from Armey's office, not to mention video tapes of his latest appearances on television...
...Armey even solicited their advice and suggestions...
...No small feat for someone who until recently listed San Francisco as his official residence—but after Brown assured San Fran mayor Willie Brown that he wouldn't challenge him on his home turf, his choices were limited...
...he was thought to be trying to solidify his claim to the speakership six years down the road...
...But we rarely see him anymore, and hardly ever place an order for him," complained a cigar seller on New York's 52nd Street...
...I've heard he's been getting freebies from Cubans at their U.N...
...Noting that the first lady is "partial to black velvet bands, not plastic," the aide said that the first lady claims the bands are useful "because they actually kept hair out of her face for the camera...
...Albright complains that Talbott is blocking her efforts to play hardball with Russian leaders over their financial and technical support of Iranian and Iraqi weapons programs...
...While neither the president nor his wife acknowledged the event, others threw McCurry a small affair in the White House press room...
Vol. 30 • December 1997 • No. 12
