Inside the Beltway

Ultimate sacrifice

Rep. Sue W. Kelly, New York Republican, draws Inside the Beltway’s attention to a long-overdue tribute to be held today at American Legion Argonne Post No. 71 in Brewster, N.Y., saluting four amazingly courageous U.S. Army chaplains.

What a story Mrs. Kelly relays:

“On a chilly February day in 1943 during the perilous times of World War II, these four soldiers selflessly gave their life jackets to their fellow comrades as the USS Dorchester sunk to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The chaplains may have perished on that fateful day, but their memory of sacrifice lives on forever.”

The four brave chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Lt. Johnny P. Washington, and Lt. Clark V. Poling. Each represented differing religious faiths — Catholic to Jewish to Protestant.

Beauty and brains

That’s Linda Solomon, a one-time model turned protocol director of the House Committee on International Relations chaired by Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican, gracing the pages of More magazine’s “Fearless After 40” cover feature in the February issue.

Miss Solomon, daughter of the late congressman Gerald Solomon, of New York, one of the leading conservative voices in the House before his retirement in 1998 (he died in 2001), was selected by the magazine’s New York editors to be among five featured younger-than-life 40 somethings who won’t “give up their manes.”

“My hair has always been long, except once when I was nine months pregnant,” the blond Hill staffer, the mother of a college sophomore, tells the magazine.

“When I got a job on Capitol Hill 11 years ago, I didn’t consider cutting it, even though the dress code is pretty conservative here. I have the longest hair in my office, but it’s my signature. My hair helps my personality come through even when I’m dressed in tailored suits.”

She adds: “My mother, who’s in her 70s, still wears her hair long.”

Ritz mix

The “Puttin’ on the Ritz” exclusive after-party following the Washington Press Club Foundation’s Congressional Dinner Wednesday night appears to be the hot ticket, but don’t expect any trouble with “Law & Order” players Cady Huffman and Giancarlo Esposito in the crowd.

As usual, the annual Congressional Quarterly late-night event, featuring special guests from the Hollywood-heavy Creative Coalition, will be serving up more than political fare at the downtown Ritz-Carlton. Joey “Pants” Pantoliano of “The Sopranos” fame will be rubbing shoulders with Tim Blake Nelson (“Syriana”) and funny gal Fran “the Nanny” Drescher, no stranger to Congress as a frequent testimonial guest on behalf of cancer research.

A sampling from the RSVP list we’ve seen: Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio; Republican Reps. John L. Mica of Florida, Bill Thomas of California and Ray LaHood of Illinois; veteran talkmeister John McLaughlin; and former Afghan Ambassador Ishaq Shahryar.

This year’s event salutes Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat.

No reservations

The perfect time to dine

Was Sunday six to nine:

Every other soul

Was watching the Bowl

And we didn’t stand in line.

— F.R. Duplantier

Columnist’s note: Both parents of the above popular limerick writer Bob Duplantier were journalists in New Orleans: His dad was a newspaperman with the States-Item; his mother was a feature writer and photographer for the Dixie Roto, the old color supplement to the Times-Picayune.

After 20 years of watching the New Orleans Saints “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I swore off professional sports in disgust long ago,” says Mr. Duplantier, although he planned to tune in to the first two minutes of last evening’s Super Bowl “to hear my old neighbor Aaron Neville sing the national anthem.”

“I used to live down the street from him in uptown New Orleans and would often see him and his brother Art — keyboardist and founder of the Meters — sitting out on the front stoops of their homes,” he explains.

The National Football League selected Mr. Neville to sing the anthem yesterday in part to honor the singer’s hurricane-ravaged hometown.

• John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.