50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill 2008 – 40 More

Andrew Noyes
Age: 28
Hometown: Beckley, W.Va.
Political party: Declined to specify
Dating status: In a relationship

If The Hill ever decides to do a 50 Most Beautiful Pets on Capitol Hill list, Andrew Noyes is sure his dog will make it.

Noyes, a technology policy reporter for Congress Daily, is the gushing father of a miniature longhaired dachshund named Lex. (He found the dog in a pet store on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.)

“He’s insanely cute,” says the 28-year-old, breaking into a wide smile that softens his otherwise angular features and naturally serious expressions.

Noyes, who’s in a five-year relationship, says both he and his dog require little maintenance, which is a good thing since Noyes’s schedule doesn’t leave much room for time wasted in front of the mirror or playing pet groomer. He also does freelance work for local magazines like Capitol File and Washingtonian,  and teaches journalism at American University.

His day job keeps him “very content,” though, and he’s had his shares of highs and lows as a congressional reporter – including a fun night at the Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner a few years back with Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) as his official date, and a tense moment in a hearing when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) tripped over his laptop bag.

But Noyes’s dog is now competing with him for attention on the Hill.

“A lobbyist or someone at the hearing that I covered this morning came over to me and said, ‘Did I see you with your dog yesterday, walking?’ He was like, ‘Oh my God, that dog’s so cute,’ ” Noyes says. “So my dog is a bit of a celebrity.”

– By Daphne Retter

Andrew Savage
Age: 27
Hometown: Calais, Vt.
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: In a relationship

He may tell you different, but little in Andrew Savage’s life is done lightly.

The Vermont native and communications director for Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) took a liking to cross country skiing late in his high school career – and went on to ski for four years on Middlebury College’s Division I team.

Once in Washington he took up road bike racing to “satisfy the endurance desire,” he says. “I just kind of do it for fun.”

His idea of fun: A couple of weekends ago, he went on a three-hour, 60-mile ride in 98-degree heat.

Then there’s his furniture-making. In high school he took a materials and machines class, which resulted in a hallway table made of cherry, and he has made a piece of furniture every year since. The bed he sleeps on in his Northwest Washington studio apartment is his own handiwork.

Not to be forgotten is his “recreational” photography. Earlier this year Savage staged his own show at Tryst coffeehouse in Adams Morgan, even selling a few of his shots.

Can we help but wonder what would happen if he ever decides to run for office?

While the blond Savage – who, on this day, wears a few-days-old stubble beard – is eager to talk about his Renaissance Man pursuits, he’s guarded about his romantic life.

“Other than to say she’s awesome, everything else is personal,” he says. He slips from this hard line a bit later to reveal that he recently took a 10-day trip to Thailand to see his girlfriend, whom he met in D.C. but who’s working there for the summer.

Along with his ability to ski, bike, cut wood and take pictures, Savage’s looks are all natural. His beauty routine is limited to the dictates of personal hygiene.

“I make sure to shower after exercise,” he says with a laugh.

– By Kris Kitto

Angelle Kwemo has a mysterious kind of beauty – the kind that unfolds by the minute. Maybe it is the warmth she exudes, a quiet resilience or the velvety eyes with an almost violet hue. The Cameroon-born legislative director for Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) says she was always considered “different,” something she does not want her two teenage kids to experience. Only now, in D.C., does she feel a sense of belonging.

When she left Cameroon as a teenager to go to France, people there saw her as different. When she lived in Normandy everybody saw her as different there too because she was from Cameroon and her French accent stood out. While her sweet, French-accented English may make her stand out in D.C., she feels like she fits the hodgepodge nature of this city.

“Being different is not always easy,” she said, adding a paraphrased expression she translated from French: “I have to pay the price for my uniqueness.”

Kwemo earned her law degree in France and returned to Cameroon to teach at the university, an experience that taught her how blessed she is.

Her chic taste in clothing may stem from a few years of modeling in France. She was plucked from a mall in high school to model on the fashion runway.

Between raising two children, her Hill job and church, Kwemo does not have much time for herself. But she loves writing poetry in French and hopes to have hers published someday.

To Kwemo, a beautiful person is genuine, a person who has enough love to give, she said. “If you look like a star but you can’t express love, you are nothing,” she said.

 – By Roxana Tiron

Belinda Garza
Age: 29
Hometown: San Antonio
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Single

Naturally gregarious, Belinda Garza made a painful discovery in junior high school that prompted a quiet period.

“It was easy to talk to people until I realized they were making fun of me,” she says. “I was a big nerd, with big glasses and this huge hair. I was so skinny.”

Garza began to get her act together in high school. She ditched the glasses for contacts and got her wild hair under control. The voice returned, but another realization awaited her: She wasn’t any good at chemistry. Garza’s dreams of being a doctor dissolved amongst the Bunsen burners.

That meant an international business major instead of pre-med at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where her peripatetic family (Garza’s father is in the Army) had eventually settled.

Garza’s major led to a job at the Health and Human Services Department. She met a group of fellow Texans at a reception, and they encouraged her to apply to work in Congress. Garza eventually got a job as scheduler for Rep. Ciro Rodriguez’s (D-Texas) office and she tried hard to soak up all she could about the legislative process.

Garza left after a year to take a job at Wal-Mart, where she watched over the budget. Back then the office was small enough that everybody needed to pitch in when asked. As she kept track of the books, she also began to lobby.

Five years later, Garza now manages pharmacy and healthcare federal government relations for the retail giant – the perfect job for someone who wanted to be a doctor but stunk at chemistry.

Selling her company on Capitol Hill, Garza is never at a loss for words: “We’re doing great stuff for our customers and our employees.”

– By Jim Snyder

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio)
Age: 44
Hometown: Barberton, Ohio
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Married

Though she dresses in smart suits and conservative pearls on the Hill, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) was probably more comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt as a child.

The congresswoman was a tomboy growing up and enjoyed playing sports with her four older brothers. She dreamed of being a veterinarian as a young girl, and fondly remembers sharing the backseat of a wood-paneled station wagon with the family dog on the way to her grandmother’s home.

However, Sutton switched career goals in high school, saying “hello” to politics.

“I did make a conscious decision in high school to go into public service because it was clear to me by then that I wanted to use my life to try to further ‘a greater good,'” the tall and trim 44-year-old says.

She graduated from Kent State University with a political science degree and attended University of Akron School of Law. While still at Akron, she won a seat on the Barberton City Council. She was inspired to run for office after losing her father to lung cancer.

She spent eight years in the Ohio state House of Representatives, and practiced labor law with Faulkner, Muskovitz and Phillips LLP before running for a congressional seat in 2006.
Though she never became a veterinarian, the congresswoman still loves dogs. She has two, Cody and Bear.

The blue-eyed blond is married to husband Doug Corwon, and has two grown step-children and two grandchildren.

– By Jessie Harris

Briana Bilbray
Age: 25
Hometown: Imperial Beach, Calif.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: In a relationship

Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) must be proud: His youngest daughter won her first election at the tender age of 21, besting even his winning run for city council at 25.

Clearly the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Briana was elected to the Republican Central Committee in San Diego County in June. She’s taking a one-year break from her accounting studies at California State University in San Marcos to work on political campaigns.

The San Diego-area native didn’t just grow up near the water; she literally had her sea legs before land legs, she said.

“My first steps were out at sea” during a sailing trip with her family, she said. These days, she races speedy, lightweight Laser-class sailboats and loves horseback riding.

-By Jeffrey Young

Our beautiful baloney has a first name and it’s C-A-R-L.

That would be Carl Baloney, a newly promoted legislative correspondent to Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), whose birthday is TODAY – Happy birthday, Carl!

Born and raised in New Orleans, Baloney is full of Cajun spice. He has also heard every conceivable baloney joke, from people who tell him he’s full of baloney to those who think he’s pulling a prank on them when they phone the congressman’s office and he answers the phone.

A standout feature for Baloney is his hair.

“People think it’s cool,” he says, explaining that he used to use a pick on it, but went on vacation to Colorado and lost the pick. So he conditioned – and  voila- the lovely dreads appeared.

Lovely as they are, Baloney recalls the strange phase he went through when he’d be in a bar and suddenly feel a hand in his hair. “‘Oh, your hair,'” a stranger would say. “‘I just wanted to touch it.’ Women will ask, ‘Where do you get your hair done?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t.'”

He recalls Hurricane Katrina, saying he left New Orleans two days before the storm hit to return to the University of Richmond. He couldn’t speak to his family for three or four days and became extremely worried. He is the youngest of seven children.

Thankfully he got in touch and no one was hurt. His childhood home, however, in the 7th Ward, was nearly destroyed and filled with six feet of water.

On any given weekend, Baloney, who lives in Logan Circle, can be found in the U Street corridor on a rooftop deck. He’s more bar than club kid, ladies. He’s also a jet-setter and enjoys weekend getaways to New Orleans or New York.

So, what’s the story with his name?

It’s French, and his grandfather and father pronounce it “Bah-low-knee” whilst others in the family say “Bah-low-nay”. Out of respect for his father and grandfather he’s sticking with the non-French pronunciation.

“People still crack jokes,” he says. “You’d be surprised how many adults make the joke. Luckily I had six siblings who went to my school. I think they probably took the brunt of it.”

-By Betsy Rothstein

Chris Austin has a firm jaw line and thick, dark hair. His eyes are a striking light green. But the newly named legislative assistant for Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) would rather not talk about his good looks.

When asked if his attractiveness made him popular in high school, the 28-year-old answered modestly, “I had friends. Whether that was because of the way I look, I don’t know.”

Austin recently worked for the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, and will start the new position with Hare on Aug. 4.

Austin spoke eagerly about his recent two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Kenya. He trained teachers and students in HIV/AIDS education, and introduced student government at a school. He also picked up Swahili and American sign language during the trip.

“It was an amazing experience, and propelled me to come here,” he said.

He started as an intern for Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) two years ago and stocked shelves at Trader Joe’s to help pay bills.

Holding a public service job has always been a goal for Austin, since his father joined the Army and later became a firefighter. His grandfather was a police officer. As a child, he dreamed of joining the Army, but an asthma diagnosis put an end to it. Instead he joined AmeriCorps and later the Peace Corps.

“I had great parents who instilled in me the values of hard work, optimism, and perseverance,” Austin said.

Austin has a serious demeanor and a quiet voice. His friends describe him as “reserved.” Any interested females should know: This unassuming man is single.

– By Jessie Harris

It seems that when Coty Wamp, daughter of Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), was 11, an alien invaded her body.

Well, not really. But that is what it felt like to Rep. Wamp, who couldn’t understand why his lovely daughter was starting to mouth off. “I told her I’d take away her privacy and take the door off her room” if she continued to behave in such a way, the congressman recalled.

Sure enough, Wamp took the door off. But when he returned home, it was back on. Coty had put the door back on its hinges herself. At 12 or 13, Wamp took the door off again – this time for three weeks.

It’s safe to say things have improved in the Wamp household. Five years ago, Wamp took his daughter on a congressional delegation trip to Africa.

“We went from being father and daughter to best friends in 11 days,” he said. “It was just me and her, and it was so special. It was the greatest 11 days of our relationship. We still talk about it.”

A rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee, Coty studies political science and hopes one day to attend law school. This summer she interned in the office of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), where her specialty was giving Capitol tours. She finished off the summer with a trip to Rome with her brother.

As for dating, Rep. Wamp says his daughter has had many suitors, but no one has gotten close enough to go through him yet. “She has dated many boys through the years,” he said. “I think she’s got a little of my mother in her. So she’s going to be hard to please.”

-By Betsy Rothstein

If the good people at CBS had any sense, Crystal Chiu might not be in Washington at all, but running around the world with her brother, overcoming one obstacle after another.

The two sent in a video hoping to get cast in the reality TV show “Amazing Race.” Pretty, clever and energetic, Chiu seems like a natural for TV. But she thinks that she and her brother were undone by their limited videography skills.

“We were just sitting on the couch poking fun at one another,” she says. “We never heard back.”

It was a lesson in the importance of communications that Chiu probably didn’t need. The subject was her major in college, and she works in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) press shop.

“There’s still a lot of people who are very confused about what you can do after graduation,” she jokes.

“But communications is everything. … It’s all in the message and how you present it. It’s actually an art.”

Hustle and wits are keys to winning the Amazing Race. And Chiu’s found that they help in Washington too.

At the start, she felt overwhelmed. “It was like jumping in cold water,” she says. “I just kept telling myself, ‘These people hired you for a reason.'”

Now it seems like a natural fit. “I like the frenzy, the hectic schedule, people working together.”

In what free time she has, Chiu likes to run on the Mall or go dancing. She volunteers at the humane shelter.

 “I love dogs. I basically just go there to play with dogs,” she says.

– By Jim Snyder

David Ward 
Age: 25
Hometown: Raleigh, N.C.
Dating status: In a relationship

The fact that David Ward is even eligible for the Top 50 list is a result of complete chance.

The handsome press secretary for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) with the swoon-worthy blue eyes first came to the Hill with a friend who was seeking an internship, but had no real intention of pursuing his own.

Since he was there, Ward said he just “dropped off” some resumes. Shortly after, he was hired as an intern for Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).

Three years later, after a stint in Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s (R-Texas) office, Ward has landed where he “ultimately wanted to end up,” which is working for fellow Wake Forest University graduate Burr.

“I love the Senate — it’s great over here,” he said, being sure to mention he meant no disrespect for his friends in the lower chamber.

When not working for the people of North Carolina, Ward travels back to the state he represents to surf and fish. But this might not be often. Ward also reminds us that “the people’s work never sleeps.”

– By Jackie Kucinich

Elizabeth McWhorter knows how to give a tour of the Capitol.

As a student of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, the staffer for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) can probably tell tourists more than they would ever want to know about the unique building.

Giving tours of the Capitol was one of the reasons McWhorter decided to move to D.C. full time after an internship with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and stints with a couple of architecture firms.

“I loved giving the Capitol tours so much as an intern,” she said.

But architecture isn’t all that’s keeping McWhorter busy these days.

Once a week she attends classes at the Naval War College, where she’s learning about national security policy, an area she says she’d like to focus on in the future.

“It’s nice to use my brain, you know, read,” she said.

McWhorter also stays active, playing soccer and softball several times a week. She played water polo in college.

— By Sam Youngman

Elizabeth Murray
Age: 23
Hometown: Mountain Brook, Ala.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single

What better to prepare a young staffer for the shark-infested waters of Washington than, well, shark-infested waters?

Elizabeth Murray says the transition from working as a sailing and diving instructor in the British Virgin Islands to Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) office was pretty smooth, but she readily admits, “It was a pretty big change.”

Murray made a stop in between the two gigs though, working for a while in the newsroom at Fox News.

Working in Shelby’s office has given her a view from the other side, she said, and she one day hopes to combine the two, working in media relations.

“It was a kind of a natural transition, I feel, between the two,” Murray said.

Murray says only that she’s “amused” when people say she looks like the celebrity Nicole Richie.

Her soft Southern accent and friendly smile would be a welcome asset in any office, but Murray says she’s very happy to be on the team of her home-state senator.
                           
– By Sam Youngman

Erica Price is embarrassed.

The self-deprecating fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee didn’t tell her colleagues that she was being considered for the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill.

“I’m so not even the prettiest girl in the office,” she said. “Plus, my mom will think it’s funny.”

But finding the humor in things is nothing new for the 25-year-old Ohio native. Though she raises thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates in the Midwest, she knows not to take herself too seriously. Price, who has blond hair and blue eyes, recalled the time she performed in a ribbon dance, a Chinese tradition.

“I’m 5 feet, 10 inches without heels, and it was just 5-feet-tall Asian girls and me,” said Price. “I definitely stuck out.”

She volunteered that she’s clumsy, often stumbling on stairs in her office to the delight of her co-workers.

“I think my parents hoped that those years of ballet classes would remedy that,” she said. “No dice.”

Her modesty belies her competitive nature. Despite working grueling hours, she gets up early on weekdays to swim or bike. She’s training as a triathlete and is part of a 19-member crew that helped a 4-person cycling team win the coast-to-coast Race Across America.

Price said she wasn’t sure it would be a good thing to become one of this year’s Hill beauties, knowing the guff she stands to get from her friends.

“On the other hand, why not?” she said. “But maybe if I’m rejected, we’ll form a club for those who didn’t make it.”

Sorry, Erica.

– By Walter Alarkon

Eric Halstrom likes a non-date date.

His best date in memory was a pre-graduate party in college. “It was the most fun and best overall because it didn’t feel like a date,” he says. His worst date was that same year, when two friends and their girlfriends went out one night and set him up with a female friend. “It was probably the most awkward, intimidating date,” he says. “I was just kind of irritated by it.”

An ideal scenario for him is “staying in, cooking dinner and just relaxing.”

Halstrom says he’s naturally somewhat of an introvert. He describes himself as initially shy, but insists people are surprised by how talkative he is after he has known someone for a while.

A staff assistant in the office of Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), he says he’s not certain what he wants to do with his life, but sees law school in his future. He has interned for Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.).

When he’s not at work, Halstrom can be found swimming, playing softball or joining friends for a barbecue. Though he attended college at Sonoma State University in California’s wine country, he prefers beer to wine.

But more than drinking, his favorite pastime is skiing. He began skiing when he was 4 years old. Travel spots he most enjoys are Kauai, Hawaii, and Lake Tahoe, in both Nevada and California.

“Both are heavenly,” he says.

— Betsy Rothstein

Garrette Silverman, spokeswoman for Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), has 50 Most Beautiful pedigree. Her mom is a former actress who moved to Hawaii to play beach bunnies and go-go dancers in “Hawaii Five-O” and “Magnum P.I.”

With aquamarine eyes and bright blond streaks, Silverman could have followed in her mom’s footsteps. Instead, she went to work at the Office of Management and Budget – a few pasty budget analysts still blinking at the glittering memory.

Her quirky humor puts you at ease.

“I’m a sleepy hamster,” she says before an interview, dropping a nickname from her college days at George Washington University.

Silverman flirted with a career in broadcasting but has politics in her blood. She comes from “a staunch Republican family” and remembers herself as the only student who sported Dole-Kemp buttons on her backpack in liberal Hawaii.

She went to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) high school but the relationship ends there. When she gets e-mails from Punahou High School alumni selling Obama gear she responds with messages touting Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president.

Silverman loves working for Voinovich but finds more to life than politics.

“I like getting away and not have my social life focus on the Hill,” she said.

An avid cook, she likes to throw dinner parties at her Glover Park home.

Her specialty: grilled Teriyaki Spam over rice and seaweed. (The canned meat is so popular in Hawaii that Burger King and McDonalds put it on their menus.)

Silverman finds dating difficult in D.C. because so many men are more interested in keeping their schedules than getting serious. She’s learned to prefer spending quality time alone or with friends than “in relationships that aren’t going anywhere.”

But that’s not to say romance is impossible. She says she has her eye on someone special.

-By Alexander Bolton

Mornings at Jenny Harp’s house can be an ordeal. If you want to shower, wake up early.

Harp shares a house in Columbia Heights with six other girls, known to them as “the Mantionette.”

“We found each other on Craig’s List,” she said.

“Showers are complicated.”

All of the girls are former sorority girls from different parts of the country, Harp said, and she can relate to the different regions.

Harp was born in California, raised in Georgia and went to school in Michigan.

“I’m kind of known as a mutt,” she said.

For now, Harp is happy to working for Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), but she might not be around the Hill for long.

Harp said she would like to graduate to the level of legislative assistant before she leaves town, but she has her sights on law school.

The die-hard Michigan Wolverines fan said ideally she would like to go to Stanford law school, and then make a full-time go of it in California, where she said the weather is more to her liking.

– By Sam Youngman

Growing up, Jill Davidsaver wanted to be a veterinarian and for a stint she did the whole vegetarian thing. But she never thought her life would revolve around cows.

“My livelihood and well-being seem to depend on a cow all of a sudden,” said Davidsaver, who is one of the newest lobbyists for the National Cattleman’s Beef Association. She took the position after passing up a job at the International Dairy Foods Association.

Looking back, it begins to make sense.

After growing up in a small Nevada cow-town surrounded by ranchers, Davidsaver moved to Bozeman, Mont., partly for college, partly to chase a cowboy with whom she was smitten. She eventually returned to her beef-eating ways, relishing the mouthwatering dishes her father cooked for her and her twin brother.

“Beef is what’s for dinner,” she said, bringing the carnivorous slogan to life. “I respect everyone’s individual choice but you can’t deny that the cows in the U.S. are happy.”

But it’s not the beef that keeps Davidsaver (a last name that originally came from the German, Davidshoffer) looking beautiful. It’s her mother’s Greek heritage. Well, that, and she lathers herself in olive oil everyday. “Only kidding,” she said.

Her dark curly locks fall over her grandmother’s faux pearl clip-on earrings. She has Mediterranean blue eyes that catch their reflection in the window.

Luckily she hasn’t had too many bad dates, but she offers this sage advice: “Dating older men is just a bad idea.”

Another thing she warns against is credit card debt.

She managed to ring up debt due to a weakness for shopping that she now has learned to control. If she can finish paying off that debt, she says, she will consider it one of her greatest achievements.

– By Jordy Yager

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.)
Age: 81
Hometown: Alexandria, Va.
Political Party: Republican
Dating Status: Married

Even at the respectable age of 81, John Warner makes ladies of all ages swoon.

There are many reasons the senior senator from Virginia has this effect on women: He has the manner of a statesman, always gracious and patient, and a full head of luscious gray hair always styled to perfection.

He also wears some of the most fetching suits on Capitol Hill, always with a handkerchief matching his tie. Warner has a grandiose manner at times – almost drawn from a different century – but he can be endearing and employs a quick wit.

As much as he may have put it behind him, Warner can’t shake away his Hollywood allure – he was once married to Elizabeth Taylor. He has experience with several high-level celebrity shoots but wants none of it anymore.

Warner has been happily married for several years to his wife, Jeanne, with whom he enjoys painting in the morning. Warner has a knack for painting lovely flowers.

He knows exactly what the perfect day is for him with his wife.

“Have a late breakfast, play nine holes of golf (never any more than nine), have supper outside – she’s very good at the grill – and take the dog for a late-evening walk,” Warner said.

– By Roxana Tiron

Jonathan To
Age: 23
Hometown: Russellville, Ark.
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Single

Jonathan To’s striking looks and 6-foot-1 stature have gained him attention from women of all ages. One is his landlady whom he took out to dinner at Bonefish on Mother’s Day.

“The first thing she said was, ‘You’re a really good-looking man,'” he said.

To took her out because her own children live far away and could not be there. She’s had three strokes and uses a walker. “We left it ambiguous,” he said of their dinner date.

On the subject of love: To seeks a “smart, intelligent” woman with a “good sense of humor” who inspires him and loves to dance. To danced in college, everything from hip hop to jazz and Latin.

He says he doesn’t have a preference, such as blondes over brunettes. “I’m an equal opportunist,” he said.

To spent much of his youth in the small southern town of Russellville, Ark., where he was, many times, the lone Asian in any given room full of Caucasians. “I was one of two Asian people in my high school class of 500,” he said. “I did experience racism. People called me Kami.”

To is Chinese. His mother is from Taiwan; his father, from Hong Kong. “I know a smidgen of Mandarin, but sadly, I am illiterate in the language,” he said.

But, he says of the racism, Russellville was a strong community seeped in Christian faith.

“This allowed a lot of people to get over the color hump,” he says. Despite his agnostic convictions, friends would often take him along to church.

This beauty comes to us from the office of Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), where he was an APAICS legislative fellow between October 2007 and June 2008. He now works at the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in the 7th Congressional District and hopes to return to Capitol Hill in November.

Born in San Francisco, To moved to Russellville when he was 9. They had moved between Arizona and Texas before settling in the Bible Belt.

All that travel was the result of his parents’ jobs – his mother was an Army sergeant; his father, a nuclear engineer. To was an only child.

“I was always used to my life being in flux,” he said.

To graduated from Washington University in St. Louis where he intended to be a biomedical engineer. “I realized I didn’t want to work in a lab the rest of my life,” he said, and switched his studies to political science.

– By Betsy Rothstein

She’s tall, slender and beautiful but not afraid to wrestle with French burglars or get a little sand in her hair.

Kelly Shields, an aide to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), grew up in Gretna, Va., a country town of a few thousand people near the North Carolina border. So she wanted to see the world after graduating from the University of Virginia.

One night, on a train trip in Southern France, she and a few girlfriends were awakened by a man trying to break into their sleeping car. They kept him at bay by wrestling shut the car’s sliding doors and locking them with a bicycle lock. But the trip remains among her favorite memories. She’ll always fondly remember the French seashore and Antibes.

Kelly’s long, lithe build draws attention at the beach, even more so when she’s diving for volleyball shots. She played the sport during the many hours she spent at the beach in Florida while her boyfriend trained as a Navy fighter pilot in Pensacola.

Now that she’s engaged to him, she’s looking for a more settled sport: golf.

“I’m pretty bad but I can hit the ball,” she says with an infectious laugh. “It’s fun to get up in the morning and hit balls.”

Kelly was a cheerleader in high school and once competed in the Miss Virginia beauty pageant, but she’s not afraid to mix it up with the guys. She finished second in her fantasy football league, missing the championship by one-tenth of a point. She hints at an accounting controversy but her relaxed smile puts everything in easy perspective.

— By Alexander Bolton

It has been an exciting summer for Kristie Muchnok, and not just because of her job on the House Administration Committee.

Muchnok was one of 20 girls – out of 200 – recently tapped as a member of the Washington Wizards dance team.

The West Virginia University graduate said she’s happy to be busy, and everyone on her staff shares her excitement about her new gig.

“I’ve danced and done theater all my life,” she said.

Muchnok said being a dancer can be demanding with “tons and tons of practices,” promotional events and 41 home games.

And she’s not just there for the dancing. Muchnok knows her basketball.

While she said Gilbert Arenas is her favorite player now, Muchnok said she sees a lot of promise in rookie JaVale McGee.

“I am basketball fan,” she said.

For Muchnok, life is good. Her two goals in life, she said, were to work on Capitol Hill and to dance professionally.

Check. Check.

“I’m living the dream right now, so I haven’t set any new goals,” she said.

– By Sam Youngman

Kristin Sutton
Age: 25
Hometown: Chesapeake, Va.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: In a relationship

The Kristin Sutton sitting in Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) office is dressed in a black suit, black heels and a black and white blouse. Her hair is a sun-bleached sandy blonde, which accentuates her summer skin that possesses a bronze finish.

But there’s another Sutton that the staff assistant is hiding. In the winter her hair turns brown as a bear and her complexion, well, as she puts it best: “You can actually see through me I’m so pale.”

Though she prefers the tanned goddess look to the pale snowflake look, the duality could work out for the best. Her dream situation would be to create two of her, one she could leave at home to take care of the children she hopes to have one day and the other would be a dynamic political force to be reckoned with.

Just what kind of political force?

“I’d just like to be Condoleezza Rice,” Sutton said. “She’s so poised and intelligent.”

But what do you do if you want to impress Sutton? 

Just let her catch you reading National Review by the pool or the beach. It’s her absolute favorite thing to do, as compared to watching movies, which tend to not go over so well.

“I’d say over the past year I’ve probably fallen asleep in 75 percent of the movies I’ve watched,” she said.

– By Jordy Yager 

Laura Swett
Age: 23
Hometown: Great Falls, Va.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single

If you asked most people on the Hill why they got involved in politics, you’d get a similar answer: they wanted to work someplace where they could make a difference. For Laura Swett, it’s more personal.

The daughter of a Vietnamese woman who emigrated to the United States after the war, Laura, an aide to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), has a special appreciation for the freedoms Americans sometimes take for granted. That’s why she’s starting at Georgetown’s law school in the fall to study international law and human rights. She’ll be taking on quite a workload, adding legal studies at night to her day job on the Hill.

“Having relatives in Vietnam and seeing the way that they view society and how people should be treated is really striking to me,” she said. “I became involved in politics to figure out what I could actually do to make a change.”

Her colleagues surely hope she sticks around for a while. An avid chef, Laura routinely comes to work armed with tasty baked goods for her coworkers.

“I like experimenting with new recipes and I use my office as guinea pigs,” she said. “They complain that they’re getting fat, but that’s OK.”

– By Jeffrey Young

Laurie Coleman
Age: 51
Hometown: St. Louis Park, Minn.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married

SSome politicians’ spouses stay in the background, shaking hands with voters at county fairs or appearing as a smiling face behind a triumphant or dejected candidate at campaign headquarters.

Laurie Coleman, wife of Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), isn’t one of those political wives. The leggy blonde is a former ballet dancer, a model and an aspiring actress with movie, television and stage credits to her name, including a turn in a production of “The Vagina Monologues.”

If the winning smile and sparkling eyes weren’t enough to get by on, Mrs. Coleman’s also an inventor and an entrepreneur. She created and sells the Blo and Go, a nifty wall mount for handheld hair dryers.

Come August, the Colemans will be unofficial hosts for the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities. As the former first lady of St. Paul, Mrs. Coleman would seem a perfect candidate for the job.

— By Jeffrey Young

With his long eyelashes and handsome smile, it’s not hard to imagine Leo Schmid as the chivalrous type. So when he tells the story about how he and a friend caught a purse-snatcher in Paris, it fits in nicely with your initial impression.

While visiting the Eiffel Tower in 2005, one of his friends discovered her purse was missing. With the help of a champagne vendor who witnessed the crime, Schmid and another friend chased down the perpetrator just as he was putting the stolen purse into a large bag filled with other purloined belongings.

“We grabbed the purse and tossed it to our friend,” he said. The thief then took off running. “When it was all said and done we went back to buy a bottle of champagne from the guy that pointed out the thief,” Schmid added. “Looking back on it, this was probably a scam they had set up on us but it doesn’t really bother me; it was probably the best champagne I ever had.”

Like many Hill dwellers, Schmid first came to Washington as an intern, but unlike other newcomers he came into the office of Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) as his campaign for majority leader was kicking off. By December, he was working for Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) as a staff assistant. He is now a legislative correspondent.

When he’s not working, he’s likely doing something athletic. Most recently he took up scuba diving in addition to his regular activities of soccer, running and biking.

– By Jackie Kucinich

Mary Vought
Age: 25
Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married
 
Mary Vought does not look like a troublemaker. The petite blonde with the big, blue eyes is the last person anyone would ever suspect of, say, pulling the fire alarm at the men’s dorm in college -repeatedly.

“I was quiet and studious – it was me,” she said, noting that her more outgoing friends were too nervous to execute the co-ed prank.

Since her Vanguard days, the poised, quick-witted communications director for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has stealthily moved up the press ladder since coming to Washington as a press assistant for Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) in 2005.

“I worked for Campbell, Scott Garrett from New Jersey and Bachmann – all very good conservatives,” she said.

Away from the Hill, Vought loves to cook and is an avid sports fan (sorry, guys – Republican Study Committee Chief of Staff Russ Vought saw her first), especially when it comes to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

A self-described “die-hard fan” of the elder Manning brother, when Vought had a chance to meet Eli Manning at the White House, she made sure he knew whose jersey she would be wearing on game day.

“I told him, ‘I like your brother better,'” she said, bringing her hands to her face and laughing. “It was really awkward; it was probably rude. I guess I shouldn’t have said it.”

– By Jackie Kucinich

On the subject of beauty tips, Matt Mazonkey, spokesman to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), doesn’t have any. In fact, he doesn’t even own a comb, and had his head shaved last week.

“I hate hair,” he says.

But he is purposefully clean. “Do I wear deodorant? Yes,” he says, answering his own question.

Mazonkey is a big fan of milkshakes in the basement of the Longworth House Office Building. On a recent afternoon, he ordered a milkshake with three to four scoops of chocolate marshmallow ice cream. He reasons that his six-days-per-week workouts of running and lifting weights allow him to eat what he wants. It doesn’t hurt that he’s training for the Army 10-miler.

He says he has never considered himself worthy of a beauty pageant. “I’ve never considered myself beautiful,” he says, laughing.

This spokesman takes his job seriously and gets to work by 7 a.m., just 45 minutes after his boss arrives. “He’s a Marine colonel,” Mazonkey says, reasoning away the early hour, noting that he’s in bed by 10:30 p.m. each night and gets to leave work by 5 p.m.

His ethnic makeup is three-fourths Polish and one-fourth Italian. “I love movies. I love food,” he says, adding that he eats so much that “friends and co-workers joke that I have a tapeworm.” Mazonkey eats two breakfasts.

“I eat constantly, all day long,” he says. “Unfortunately, it’s cookies and [other] sweets.”

His favorite vacation?

“It may sound funny to say, [but it’s] family cruises. I’m a beach junkie, so I love the Caribbean, St. Martin.” His grandparents have a timeshare there.

Mazonkey says his biggest downfall is his impatience. “You don’t want to play a board game with me,” he says, citing extreme competitiveness at games such as Trivial Pursuit and Taboo.

And his dating life?

“My dating life is about as interesting as [Sen.] John McCain’s [R-Ariz.] presidential campaign,” he says, adding that he’s waiting for his “long walk on the beach.”

– By Betsy Rothstein

But she eventually gave in to a desire to be part of the action, not just observe it. She ditched the job and San Diego to attend graduate school at Georgetown, ignoring warnings from friends that D.C. lies just south of the Arctic Circle.

Even in the middle of a steamy summer, Gonzales, an aide to Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), still shivers at the thought of temperatures that can dip below 40 degrees.

“I went from studying on the sand to studying in the snow,” she says, revealing a flair for the dramatic.

Now with a public policy master’s degree, Gonzales is in the thick of things in the office of an up-and-coming Democrat. Her topic areas include social security, telecommunications and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“This is what I want to do,” she says. Gonzales still sounds awestruck that a few words in a bill can have such a broad impact on people’s lives.

Helping craft those words has had drawbacks in Gonzales’s own life. Like a lot of staffers, she works hard and late, and her hectic congressional schedule has forced her to drop out of a salsa dance troupe. She also used to act in plays back home, but rarely finds time for that now.

Gonzales does have one treasured artistic outlet. One of her favorite issues is helping Becerra, a regent at the Smithsonian Institution, build support for a museum that honors American Latinos.

– By Jim Snyder

Don’t try to turn all French on Mike and pronounce his last name “Doo-bwah.”

It’s pronounced “Duh-boys.”

Not that the 30-year-old senior legislative assistant to Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) pays much attention to the constant butchering of his last name. He’s used to both pronunciations, since he grew up hearing the American version from his family and friends but accepted the French version in college when he quickly grew tired of correcting people.

Luckily his wife, whom he met in college as a “Doo-bwah,” stuck with him after she found out the romantic-sounding French note to his last name was no more than a Madonna-like affectation.

“My wife gives me grief,” he says jokingly. “She says, ‘When I first started dating you, you were a “Doo-bwah,” and now you’re a “Duh-boys.”‘ “

The American pronunciation fits his lifestyle better, anyway. He relishes his yearly trips with his wife to Montana, where they hike and he fly fishes, and looks forward to “cold beer and big steaks … to get away from the craziness of D.C.”

He also does more splashing than gliding when he swims laps as part of his regular exercise regimen. He took up swimming as an adult because a Northern Virginia apartment building where he used to live had a pool.

“I get a workout in 10 minutes when I should in 30 because I’m flopping like a flailing fish,” he laughs.

– By Kris Kitto

Moira Bagley
Age: 26
Hometown: Lexington, Ky.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single

A perfect day in Moira Bagley’s life would include taking a trip to the zoo to gaze at baby pandas, sipping a glass of Chardonnay and shooting a gun for target practice at a local range.

The Kentucky native with porcelain skin came to Washington as a journalist but joined the Republican National Committee (RNC) after realizing “I couldn’t hide my light under a bushel anymore,” she said.

Before becoming an RNC press secretary, Bagley was a copy editor at Roll Call, where she once had a run-in with the IT department for using 80 percent of the office’s Internet bandwidth to watch the National Zoo’s Web cam of its newborn pandas. She loves baby animals.

She also had one of her worst dates when she was a journalist. It was with a staffer of a prominent GOP member of Congress. When the check came, he paid and said, “You can thank Congressman X for that,” she says. “He had expensed the date because I was a journalist, and I was furious,” Bagley says.

As a student at the University of Kentucky, Bagley took up shooting for sport. “I had some good ol’ boyfriends who really liked to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” she said, explaining they would talk about how they would want to go shooting on the weekends. “I was like, ‘All right, I’m in.’ “

While she likes to drink Chardonnay, which she refers to as “Chard,” at the Capitol Lounge, these days you’ll most likely find her in her office. She spends so much time at work that she has started a survival desk drawer, with contents ranging from hairspray to Shout wipes. She also does her makeup at her office.

“I could be stuck in here for days and come out looking like a prom queen,” she said.

– By Kris Kitto

Otto Mucklo
Age: 34
Hometown: Berea, Ohio
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single

Otto Mucklo is a freedom-loving biker.

On any given day, the 34-year-old legislative assistant for Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) revs to work on one of his two motorcycles, a red and silver Ducati or a silver, black and red Honda.

“One’s considered a naked street bike,” says Mucklo, explaining that the bike has little protection for the rider. This day he is wearing a gray pinstriped suit and black DKNY glasses. He says he keeps his hair long “to combat helmet head.”

Mucklo didn’t start off so dangerously. As a 14-year-old, he had two mopeds that he would use to zip through the woods surrounding his suburban Cleveland house and to visit friends.

From then on, he was hooked on the unique sensation of a motorbike.

“It was the freedom,” he says. “It was the ability to ride around without supervision at an early age.”

Mucklo now admits motorcycles can be appealing to potential love interests.

Women are curious, he says, telling him they’ve “always wanted to” ride a motorcycle, “I’ve never had the opportunity,” “Sounds like fun,” or “Sounds dangerous.”

“Some girls prefer longs walks on the beach,” he says. “I prefer the kind of girl that likes a motorcycle ride.”

One female he hasn’t yet convinced to ride with him is his 15-year-old daughter. But this is a case of “Do as I say, not as I do,” as Mucklo says he’s just fine with her staying away from motorcycles.

– By Kris Kitto

Let’s face it, the reform of entitlements like Social Security is an important topic for members of Congress to debate. But listening to lawmakers speak about it on the floor does not exactly cause the heart to race. Unless, that is, the speech is being delivered by the tall, handsome and fiscally conservative Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

The Republican budget whiz has been dubbed a rising GOP star since he was elected in 1998 and is often among the names listed when pundits talk about future White House appointments.

On the Hill, his music choice is often the topic of speculation since he is frequently seen walking briskly from meeting to meeting listening to his iPod.

“He listens to nothing but Gregorian chant,” said spokesman Conor Sweeney. When pressed, Sweeney disclosed that his boss has a slightly more eclectic music collection than most. Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Beethoven and Hank Williams Jr. are all on his playlist.

However, if you are looking for someone with whom to take long strolls through the Rayburn House Office Building, Ryan is not your guy. The father of three heads back to Wisconsin as soon as the last vote is cast to spend time with his children and his wife, Janna.

– By Jackie Kucinich

Rana Abtar, Capitol Hill correspondent for Alhurra, once got a marriage proposal over e-mail. A man who saw her on television wrote her that he wanted to “build a family.”

Abtar turned him down. “I try to ignore these kinds of things,” she said.

The 29-year-old Abtar is the lone Arabic-language correspondent covering Congress full time. In her four years with Alhurra, the U.S.-funded news station, Abtar’s looks and professionalism have turned heads throughout the Middle East and in Washington.

A native of Lebanon, Abtar said she’s often mistaken for being Latina when she walks the halls of Congress. Interview subjects often ask where she’s from and how she spells her name.

“I have to correct the way they say it,” she said. “I always get ‘Ray-na.’ In my language, we say it as ‘Rah-na.'”

Abtar studied to become a translator – she’s fluent in Arabic, English and French – but later  became a writer and reporter for a local news station in Lebanon. Now she’s a staple at high-profile Armed Services and Foreign Relations committee hearings, reporting live for Alhurra’s news bulletins.

“I wasn’t a big fan of politics in the beginning, but now I cannot get through a day without reading the newspaper, even when I’m off,” she said. “Now it’s more like a passion for me.”

When she’s not working, she spends her time doing yoga or taking boot camp-like gym classes. She also enjoys Lebanese food and shisha, flavored tobacco. A Gemini, she said that she can be moody, feeling happy at one moment but “pissed” the next.

Abtar, who is single, said she doesn’t mix her personal life with work. But when asked what she looks for in a date, Abtar sounded as if she’s learned at least one thing from covering politicians.

“I don’t like to answer this question a lot,” she said.

– By Walter Alarkon

Considering his past experience on the fashion runway, a svelte body carved from years of competitive swimming and a five- or six-day workout regimen, the 6-foot-3, 23-year-old dirty blonde likely has a shot at modeling again.

Guerard, a staffer for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), did his first catwalk as a teenager for a high school fashion show. Someone in the crowd noticed him, and he began getting booked for professional shows, modeling clothes for a jeans company and up-and-coming designers.

He did commercial modeling in college, appearing in clothing ads in print, but abandoned the hobby once his involvement in the Johns Hopkins University swim team became all-consuming.

“It was sort of one of those things I did just because it was fun,” he says in a way so unassuming that it suggests that, with a little pluck, anyone could work a runway or pose for the camera.

That same modesty allows Guerard to get away with calling his dating life “definitely successful” without coming across as too sure. He does have one rule, though.

“I don’t like dating friends of friends,” he says, cringing at the awkwardness that can ensue when two incompatible people with shared friends continue to run into each other. “That always ends up being a debacle for me.”

Guerard has a rugged side, too. As you read this, he is likely rock climbing and enjoying the Alaskan wilderness while visiting his parents, who live in Anchorage. He says he’s just “alright” at the outdoors sport and is “probably pretty rusty right now,” after having not climbed since college. But like his modeling prospects, there’s little doubt that Guerard will pick up right where he left off.

– By Kris Kitto

Sean Patrick Linnehan
Age: 33
Hometown: Newton, Mass.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single

Sean Patrick Linnehan is neat – all six-foot-three of him. From his perfectly cropped and styled black hair to his custom-made suit fitting perfectly on his athletic figure, Linnehan is always well put together.
 
Linnehan, a military legislative assistant to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), is a self-proclaimed neat freak. He can’t leave work without cleaning his desk with a thorough Clorox-wipe action.

Despite his clean-cut, dark Irish-American look, Linnehan has a full, manly laughter that gives way to boyish dimples.

A fairly private person with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, Linnehan was educated in all-boys schools, including The Citadel. After that, he joined the Navy for five years as a surface warfare commander.

Despite his austere schooling, Linnehan loves the finer things in life. His passion is traveling and he has visited 31 countries so far. His favorite place so far is Hong Kong, where he loves to stay at the famous Peninsula hotel. But he also enjoys a good adrenaline rush and skydiving usually fits the bill.

The turning point in his life was volunteering in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. There he learned about the strength of the human spirit and the importance of hope. “Without hope, you don’t have anything,” he said.

Linnehan says he has been too busy to date. And despite his propensity for elegance, he is not into fancy dates. He could spend a whole day sitting on a sidewalk if he has good chemistry with someone. “It is not about where you are, it’s who you are with,” he said.

— Roxana Tiron

Stacie Walters
Age: 36
Hometown: Little Rock, Ark.
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Married

Stacie Walters loves her job so much that she got married at 9:30 a.m. and returned to work in the afternoon.

The 36-year-old lobbyist for the Livingston Group is living proof that Paula Abdul once spoke the truth with her song “Opposites Attract.” A 5-foot-10 African-American extrovert, Walters found true love in an introverted Japanese psychotherapist, who, though he’s tallest in his family, only measures up to her lips.

Growing up in Little Rock, she lived a typical girl’s life, fishing with her father every Saturday, catching grasshoppers and lightning bugs in the summer, and paging for then-Gov. Bill Clinton.

Walters helped put herself through school by waiting tables. She was so good she could easily handle 10 tables at once, with no complaints or spills.

She began to develop regular customers, including one law professor to whom she expressed her desire to go to law school. There was only one impediment, she said – the prep course for the LSAT exam was too expensive.

When she went to pick up his tab at the end of the meal, there was a check for $1,000 waiting for her.

“He said somebody had done the same for him and he was just paying it forward,” Walters said.

Walters, a beautiful woman with wild hair, is the spitting image of a Benetton model. Turns out, she was one. She said her worst date was when she decided to meet a guy at Cosi for a blind date. After a cordial introduction, they sat down and she decided to break the ice slowly.

“So, have you always lived in Washington D.C.?” she asked.

His response:

“Boy you ask a lot of questions.”

Awkward.

– By Jordy Yager

What TV show does a lobbyist for Taxpayers for Common Sense watch on a regular basis?

It’s TLC’s “What Not to Wear,” a show that teaches badly dressed women what to wear.

He concedes, “That’s embarrassing for a guy.”

Born in Honolulu at a pink Army hospital on a hill, Ellis was raised as a Navy brat and spent much of his childhood in Northern Virginia near Mount Vernon.

Around here, he used to live in Adams Morgan, but he said he was tired of waking up at 3 a.m. to vomiting drunks. Now he lives with his wife, a doctor, in Woodley Park.

Apart from his TV choices, Ellis is blond, blue-eyed and masculine. He was an officer in the Coast Guard after graduating from the Coast Guard Academy. He sailed across the ocean twice on the Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship. In training he once flew a helicopter and on another occasion had to be tear-gassed to show he could handle it (he could). “It felt awful,” he says.

Among those he admires most is Alexander Hamilton. He also watches a lot of hockey.

Cooking is a hobby. He is the chef at home, but wouldn’t call himself “a chef.” He says, “I follow instructions. I don’t bake.”

– By Betsy Rothstein

Rep. Vito Fossella (N.Y.)
Age: 43
Hometown: New York
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married, with children

There’s something eye-catching about the sheen of Rep. Vito Fossella’s (R-N.Y.) dark brown hair. Looks-wise, he is the tough guy on the block – a sort of Joey-from-“Friends”-meets-“The Sopranos” – with a shy smile.

Fossella hails from a political family. His great-grandfather was James O’Leary, a New Deal congressman who served between 1935 and 1944. His father, Vito Fossella Sr., chaired the city’s Board of Standards under Mayor Ed Koch. His uncle, Frank Fossella, served on the City Council until 1985, when Susan Molinari beat him.

Fossella came to Congress in 1997, after Molinari resigned. In 1995, after his son was born, he dropped his support for abortion rights.

Earlier this year, he caused a splash in the New York tabloids when it was revealed he had fathered a child with a woman he had an affair with. The news, which surfaced after Fossella was arrested for driving while intoxicated, shocked even his closest colleagues.

He had been mentioned as a possible 2009 New York mayoral candidate; after the scandal broke, such suggestions have disappeared.

Fossella will be leaving Congress in January. It’s not clear what he’ll do next.

– By Mike Soraghan