Lindy Boggs — the much-loved former congresswoman who took the seat of her late husband, Majority Leader Hale Boggs — will celebrate her 90th birthday with a post-Katrina New Orleans-style bash this weekend. Her daughter-in-law, Washington party planner Barbara Boggs, compares the celebration, which she’s been planning for the past year, to a wedding. Although Hurricane Katrina left some damage to the roof of Lindy’s home in the French Quarter, since November she’s been staying at a hotel her friend owns in New Orleans.
… AND A BIG FAMILY REUNION
The big event is Saturday evening, when 400 family and friends will celebrate with a Dixieland band at the Plimsoll Club. Some 80 fami- ly and out-of-town guests will gather for dinner at Arnaud’s on Friday and for Sunday brunch at the New Orleans Country Club. Lindy’s son, lawyer/lobbyist Tom Boggs, and her daughter, newscaster Cokie Roberts, along with Cokie’s husband, Steve, will be on hand — as will Lindy’s eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, ranging in age from 6 months to 15 years. Former Sen. John Breaux, now a partner with Tom Boggs, will be there, as will the Landrieu family. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been invited, but no word yet as to whether he’ll accept the coveted invitation.
NEW NAME, OLD PLAYERS
Washington Link, a new specialevent firm, will debut in Washington on May 1. It’s a new name with links to past (Washington Inc.), present (Barbara Boggs Associates), and the movers and shakers of the future. Barbara Boggs, who’s been tops in the business since the late ’60s, is partnering in this new venture with Giles Beeker, vice president of Trade Center Management Associates, which holds a multiyear contract to manage the entertaining space at the Ronald Reagan Center. When Boggs planned the event marking the opening of that building in 1998, little did she know she’d have an event firm based there. “We’re still doing events anywhere and everywhere,” said Boggs, who acknowledged that “this business has fragmented through the years.” Washington Link will be a sophisticated firm with a huge client base and Boggs at the helm.
D.C. TEA PARTY, FENTY-STYLE
Not your traditional tea. The Fenty Green Hat Brigade, a core group of Adrian Fenty’s grassroots supporters, organized a successful fundraiser for the D.C. Council member’s mayoral campaign Sunday afternoon. In honor of the birthday of his wife, Michelle Fenty, some 300 supporters turned out — including arts patron Judith Terra, Ellie McPherson and Dorothy Ford, mother of Rep. Harold Ford — for the Washington-style tea, held at Madame Michelle’s Tea Room at the Dickson Mansion, once a residential club for gentleman, and now the Kingsbury School on 14th Street NW.
TALENT ‘MISUNDERESTIMATED’
Talker Rush Limbaugh — in town last Thursday for Radio & Records annual Talk Radio Seminar at Renaissance Washington Hotel — said he’s still being chased by “an out-of-control prosecutor down in Florida.” “Conservatism is not the primary reason my program succeeds,” Limbaugh said. “I have the empathy and trust of the audience.” He added: “I want to be the most listened-to person in radio, not to influence politics. I view serious discussions of issues as entertainment.” And Limbaugh fans, listen up. Rush thinks that “the talent on talk radio is so ‘misunderestimated.’ ” He acknowledged: “That’s a George Bush word.”
… AND CLAIMS ‘I AM TALK RADIO’
Even if Limbaugh, 55, doesn’t want to influence politics, he has no plans to retire: “I am not going to retire until every American agrees with me.” And he boasted, “I am talk radio, and everybody else is a pre- tender.”