Bidding a Fond Adieu
It’s time to say farewell to some newly displaced members of Congress we’re sad to see go.
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont.
One of the richest members of Congress, Rehberg is known for sleeping in his office and on a cot in the pre-fire Tune Inn. The Montanan has made headlines for his good-timing ways everywhere from Kazakhstan, where he fell off his horse, to Flathead Lake, Mont., where he was in a boat crash.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.
The avowed atheist didn’t believe in the Bush tax cuts, either. Following an explanation by then-George W. Bush economic adviser R. Glenn Hubbard about the tax cuts’ merits, Stark rebutted with, “Poop, that’s all I can say. That’s nonsense.”
Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif.
Every congressional ethics reporter’s dream, with a full menu of areas to investigate, including misuse of her own staff. She was also a force on the congressional softball team.
Sen. Scott P. Brown, R-Mass.
Can we live without the salacious Cosmo spread? Sure. Will we miss seeing the overhyped GMC pickup truck? Not one bit. But we are absolutely devastated about having to say goodbye to those adorable, bushy-tailed canines who were Brown’s emissaries of total emasculation, Snuggles and Koda.
The Macks
A congressional love story. Married GOP Reps. Connie Mack of Florida and Mary Bono Mack of California no longer have to commute across the country to spend time together. Bono Mack will be missed for the classy way she supported her stepson Chaz Bono after his sexual reassignment, as well as her daughter Chianna Bono’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy by a much older man.
Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md.
The mustachioed maverick is a sucker for hard-luck cases. In 2001 he backed a tax protester determined to square off against the IRS on technicalities, and this year he became the inadvertent champion of a whimsical tax break floated by the American Mustache Institute. He’s a renaissance man, inventor and survivalist cabin owner.