Lovely Lauren Nelson
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye was clearly smitten with Miss America Lauren Nelson on Tuesday.
Nelson, of Lawton, testified before Inouye’s committee about protecting children from Internet predators, but, before she could even open her mouth, the Hawaii Democrat called her “lovely” twice.
Then, after she finished her statement, Inouye (pronounced In-O-Way) said he had heard “thousands” of witnesses give testimony in his years on Capitol Hill _ he’s been here since 1959 _ but that her statement was “one of the most informative and articulate” he’d heard.
Wow.
Nelson was quite poised, no doubt. She had a written statement that was distributed to reporters, but she didn’t read it. She did her comments without a hard “script” and never stumbled.
In the minutes before the meeting started, Nelson sat at the witness table writing notes and appeared to be going over her “talking points” on the issue of Internet safety.
When Inouye came in the room, Nelson went to the front of the room to greet _ and obviously charm _ him.
After Inouye was done calling her lovely and called on her to speak, Nelson gave a concise overview of the issue, weaving in her own experiences both as a teenager and as Miss America and wrapped by calling for mandatoryInternet safety education. All without reading from a text.
Many witnesses _ I haven’t seen thousands, but I’ve definitely seen hundreds _ go before congressional committees with written remarks that they read verbatim, often with little inflection and, often, that go over the customary five minutes.
For jaded, impatient Washington types, the perfect witness is one that summarizes his or her statement in language used by real people (as opposed to jargon and acronyms and broad, bland platitudes) and stays well under five minutes.
It helps too if the witness is lovely.
I
(A Reuters photo of Miss America at the hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Tuesday)
Chris Casteel, Washington Bureau
Coburn Still Backs Iraq
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, has not changed his mind about the U.S. mission in Iraq, just because some of his Republican colleagues seem to be looking for a new direction.
Coburn said in an interview that it is premature to make judgments about how well the “surge” in military might is working since the deployment of more troops was just recently completed.
He said he was “aghast” that senators were coming out now to voice opinions that the Iraqi government was making no progress and that the military mission should be reassessed.
Two prominent Republican senators, Sen. Richard Lugar, of Indiana, and Sen. Pete Domenici, of New Mexico, have made public statements in the last few weeks raising questions about the progress being made.
“I think they reflect political considerations rather than military and national security considerations,” Coburn said.
The senator said, “One way for sure to make sure (the Iraqi government) doesn’t make progress is for us to bail.”
The way to ensure the government makes progress, he said, “is for us to continue to put the pressure on them that we have.”
The Senate this week is working on the defense authorization bill, which sets Pentagon policy. Several amendments regarding U.S. operations in Iraq are expected. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, offered an amendment today to ensure longer stays at home for active duty and Guard and Reserve forces.
Returning today from a week back in Oklahoma, Coburn said he believes the majority of the people in the state “are still supportive of the efforts” in Iraq.
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Bush Gives Purple Heart to Oklahoma Soldier
President Bush visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington today and awarded the Purple Heart to Sgt. 1st Class Andy Allen, from Elk City. A picture of Bush and Allen can be seen here.
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Telling the Next of Kin
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have greatly increased the work of small units in the military services with very challenging duties _ notifying the next of kin about the death of a soldier.
At a House Armed Services subcommitee hearing this week, military officials who oversee the notification process told lawmakers that they strive to give as much information as possible as soon as possible about a soldier’s death and help family members through the painful next steps.
For the U.S. Army, which has sustained the most casualties since the wars began, casualty notification officers and casualty assistance officers are trained prior to the duty. Chaplains now participate in about three-fourths of the notifications.
The notification process has received some scrutiny since the 2004 death of U.S. Army Corp. Pat Tillman, the former NFL star who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Tillman’s family was first told that he died in an ambush, and a lengthy investigation was conducted to find out why the family was given erroneous information.
The Army has since taken several steps to avoid such missteps, including a requirement that all hostile deaths be investigated. And, when friendly fire is suspected, families must be told that the death is under investigation.
Brigadier Gen. Reuben D. Jones, adjutant general of the Army, told the subcommittee last week that, since Tillman’s death, the Army had conducted over 2,100 official casualty notifications. Of those, 16 were reported as possibly caused by friendly fire and later confirmed. Another 15 were initially reported as deaths by hostile fire but later corrected when officials learned that friendly fire was the possible cause.
“The Army’s goal is to be open and honest with the families of our fallen soldiers, to care for their well-being and to keep them informed of developments or changed circumstances,” Jones told the lawmakers. “We owe them nothing less.”
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Ardmore Artist’s Work in U.S. Capitol
The U.S. Capitol has a lot of great artwork _ huge paintings depicting some of the most famous events in U.S. history, busts and statues of famous Americans and some of the flourishes in the House and Senate chambers _ some of it done by famous artists.
Down in the tunnel connecting the Capitol to House office buildings _ an essential passageway on hot, humid days like we’ve been experiencing here _ there is also some eyecatching artwork, this done by amateurs.
It is a display of student art from around the country, chosen each year to decorate the long wall in the tunnel.
This week, the most recent student winners of the Congressional Art Competition came to Washington to participate in the annual ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception, according to Rep. Tom Cole’s office.
Cole, R-Moore, congratulated a constituent of his, Alexa Healey, of Ardmore, whose picture of tennis shoes, called “Chucks,” will hang in the tunnel. The picture was chosen by a panel of judges in Norman.
“Oklahoma students are full of talent and dedication and it is an honor to serve them in Congress,” Cole said. “I am happy that Alexa and her family were able to make the trip to Washington to see her artwork showcased in the Capitol building. This is truly an accomplishment.”
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Cherokees and Judiciary
The House bill introduced last week to sever relations with the Cherokee Nation over the freedman controversy has been assigned to two committees: the Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over Indian issues; and the Judiciary Committee, which deals generally with judicial and constitutional matters.
Members typically don’t want their bills double-assigned since it slows them down and makes them more vulnerable to major changes.
But in this case, getting the bill, HR 2824, assigned to the Judiciary Committee was actually part of Rep. Diane Watson’s strategy, according to one of her aides.
Though it won’t help the bill get passed _ and there is probably little chance that the bill would even clear the House, much less the Senate _ it greatly increases the chances of getting a public hearing to allow opponents of the Cherokee vote to air their concerns.
The Cherokee Nation voted in March to exclude from membership the descendants of freed black slaves who have no Indian blood. The tribe has temporarily suspended the policy as it undergoes legal and administrative reviews.
But Watson, D-California, said the policy clearly violates the post-Civil War treaty signed by the Cherokees, which owned slaves, with the United States to make freedmen members of the tribe.
Watson’s bill would cut off all federal funds to the Cherokees and suspend their authority to conduct gaming until all freedmen were restored full membership.
But she also included language that would allow freedmen to sue the Cherokees in federal court. As a sovereign nation, the Cherokees generally have to consent to be sued. The lawsuit provisions helped get the bill assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is African-American, as are some of the most senior members. Watson is also African-American.
Conyers authored a bill earlier this year that would allow victims and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa race riots to sue the city and state for damages. A Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on that bill in April.
Conyers is co-sponsoring Watson’s legislation on the Cherokees.
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Coburn Coming Back
Sen. Tom Coburn is expected to return to Washington today after a week of rest and recovery from surgery to remove a benign tumor in his pituitary gland.
Coburn, R-Muskogee, had the surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on June 13th, then went back to Muskogee to recover.
Aaron Cooper, a Coburn spokesman, said the 59-year-old senator is doing “great.”
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
Boxer’s Gift to Inhofe
Sen. Barbara Boxer gave her good friend Sen. Jim Inhofe a gift on Thursday before commencing a hearing on global warming _ an issue that has divided the two lawmakers for years.
Boxer, a California Democrat, presented Inhofe, R-Tulsa, with a little stuffed polar bear (it looked like a Beanie Baby from the press seats).
The polar bear, of course, is considered to be in some danger of extinction this century because of global warming and the melting ice of its habitat.
Inhofe, perhaps the country’s best known global warming skeptic told Boxer, “In the last 50 years, the polar bear population has doubled.”
“I knew you’d use that as an opportunity to state your views on the polar bear,” Boxer replied.
Boxer, who replaced Inhofe as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee when Democrats won control of the Senate, said Inhofe had given her a gift earlier this year _ a global warming coffee mug that shows a map of the world.
When filled with hot coffee, “the coasts disappear,” Boxer said.
Inhofe described his gift as “useful.”
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
A Wounded Hero and Hero Miles
Paul Vincent is returning to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Thursday to see his son, Shane, of Sapulpa, who was severely wounded by an IED explosion outside Baghdad last month.
Shane’s back is broken and he suffered numerous other injuries after the 1,000-pound bomb exploded under the rear of the Humvee he was driving. The explosion killed another man in the vehicle, while a third was relatively unharmed.
Shane, 22, has been at Walter Reed since the Memorial Day weekend, undergoing a series of surgeries. Paul Vincent said his son does have feeling in his legs. He is talking, his father said, though he is under heavy sedation and not entirely lucid.
Shane’s wife and mother have been with him since he was sent here. Paul Vincent had nothing but praise for Walter Reed’s medical staff and for the accommodations made for the family.
Many families face serious financial problems in traveling here and staying with their wounded children and spouses.
One of the programs that’s helping _ and that Paul Vincent is benefiting from this week _ provides air travel for families using frequent flyer miles donated by people.
That program is called Operation Hero Miles and information about it is available here.
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
What the Audits Show
The Federal Election Commission has posted a copy of the audit done on the 2003-2004 reelection campaign of former U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, a Republican.
The audit is available here.
Readers can make up their own minds about some of Istook’s expenses that the FEC determined to be personal, rather than campaign-related.
For instance, Istook said he accidentally used his campaign credit card for some expenses that were clearly not for the campaign, including jewelry and groceries. Which raises the questions: How many times can that mistake happen and, if it did happen, why wasn’t it caught by Istook or the campaign before the FEC had to step in?
But it’s the totality of the problems found by the FEC that is _ truly _ extraordinary, particularly for someone who had been in Congress for so long (his first race was in 1992). The FEC sends letters to hundreds of campaigns noting problems with their reports on donations and expenditures, giving campaigns the chance to correct them. But audits are highly unusual.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, was running for the Senate for the first time in 2004, but he had been in the House for six years and, presumably, knew something about the obligations for reporting donations.
But his 2004 campaign finance reporting was also a mess and the FEC audited it as well. The results of his audit are available here.
The most glaring findings in the Coburn audit are those involving a lack of reporting; that is, the Coburn campaign didn’t supply the necessary information about the people giving him money or even that money was donated, at least under the legal deadlines.
More than $350,000 in donations that rolled in during the last days before the election were supposed to be reported immediately. They weren’t. And the transparency that is an important objective of campaign finance laws wasn’t provided.
Coburn’s campaign was fined about $31,000 for his problems. It’s not clear yet how much, if anything, Istook will be fined.
Candidates generally have staff, using software specifically designed for FEC forms, fill out the campaign reports. And that was the case with Istook and Coburn.
Both have accepted responsibility for the mistakes, acknowledging that the buck stops with them.
Coburn had inexperienced people performing crucial functions on his campaign, and he paid for it. Istook’s people had been around for previous elections cycles, including his former campaign manager, Kyle Loveless. According to the audit, Loveless also had to reimburse the campaign for expenses that were deemed to be personal.
Chris Casteel
Washington Bureau
