Overheard: Who’s that posing as a senator?

A male reporter standing in the media throng outside the Senate lunches last Tuesday chatted with a female reporter standing nearby.

Male reporter: “Hey, it’s the guy from ‘Law & Order’!”

Female reporter: “Really? Are you serious?!”

Male reporter: “Yeah.”

The “guy” in question was none other than the imposing former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), who was standing outside the Mansfield Room. Thompson plays the chief prosecutor on the show.

In 1994, he won a two-year special election to the Senate and in 1996 won a full six- year term. Thompson has played a leading role as John Roberts’s “sherpa” — the person tasked with guiding the nominee through numerous meetings with senators, as well as through Judiciary Committee hearings.

Women in red visit Capitol Hill

Who were those 50-plus women traipsing around the Capitol in red sparkly hats and purple attire last week?

The six women were members of the St. Mary’s County chapter of the Red Hat Society. The mission of the international group, which dresses in red hats and purple frocks and has chapters all over the world, is unbridled fun. (The website insists that “there is fun after 50” and that “silliness is the comedy of life.”)

So what were they doing on Capitol Hill? “Whatever we want,” one woman brashly replied. While they may not be among the politically powerful, the women said they have met with their congressman, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

“He is a fabulous representative,” remarked Carolyn Siebert, one of the Red Hats.

“Most of us [think so],” chimed in her friend Ann Hover, who apparently knows of some anti-Hoyerites. An incredulous Siebert countered, “You don’t like Steny? How can you not like Steny?”

Allen spokesman turns recorder on press

Capitol Hill can be a flurry of tape recorders shoved in lawmakers’ faces. But some spokespeople have been known to turn the practice around.

David Snepp, press secretary for Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), was spotted taping conversations between reporters and his boss in the hallways after the GOP policy lunch last week. Philippe Reines, press secretary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), has also been known to roam the halls taping conversations between his boss and reporters with his trusty hPod.

But he seemed salty about the whole thing: “I’m honestly just perplexed,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I feel like you are asking me why I and someone else are the only two people wearing shoes, when in fact, everyone’s wearing shoes.”A much warmer Snepp explained, “Yeah, I always do that. It’s really good for me to have an understanding of what he’s thinking. We also file that digitally for others to listen to on our server. It’s more for my use than anybody else’s in the office really. As press secretary, I have to understand his thinking.”

So are the recordings ever funny to listen to?

“Funny? I find that 99.9 percent of the times the reporters are asking about the pertinent issues of the day,” Snepp says. “I’ve never heard a stupid question. I don’t think Senator Allen would ever say he heard a stupid question. The reporters on Capitol Hill are the best at their game. He may get three or four different [subjects] in one gaggle.”

Snepp has also bailed reporters out, some of whom have called to say their recorders didn’t work and to ask what the senator had said. Thankfully, Snepp worked as a broadcast reporter on Capitol Hill for Cox Communications between 1990 and 1995, so he knows what he’s doing.

Rep. Engel keeps Weiner pin on past bitter end

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) was the proud wearer of the orange-and-blue Anthony Weiner pin last week indicating his support for the New York Democrat’s mayoral candidacy.

Engel was still wearing the Weiner pin Thursday afternoon, even though Weiner had conceded the race to Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer the day before.

Engel said that he was the only member of the New York delegation to support Weiner and would not take the pin off until the end of the day.

“Only if I stick myself,” he joked, explaining, “I told Anthony I’d wear it on the House floor because I’m proud of him. I was by his side election night when he gave his speech. He did very, very well. I was the only colleague who stuck by him — others had other obligations.”

Announcements

Swine on the Vine

The Capital Club’s annual “Swine on the Vine” party is this Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Potomac Polo Grounds in Poolesville, Md.

Details: Time, 4-10 p.m., rain or shine; band, Burnt Sienna; Attire, barbecue casual; tickets, women pay $30 online, $50 with bus ticket or $40 at the door, men pay $35 online, $55 with bus ticket and $60 at the door. Transportation on the “Swine Bus” is available.

More info: www.capital-club.com or contact Jay Walker at jhwalker22@

hotmail.com.