COLUMNS

Oil trail leads back to D.C.

  • The Washington Examiner
  • |
  • April 19, 2005

by Karen Feld

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A local connection: Marlena Remallo Chalmers Cooke’s – the Bolivian-born widow of the late Redskins owner, Jack Kent Cooke – prior husband was the very same David Chalmers, the oil executive who is the sole shareholder of Bayoil, arrested at his home in Houston last Thursday. The indictment accused Chalmers and two oil traders of paying millions in secret kickbacks to Saddam’s regime to secure oil deals so that Chalmers’ oil company could continue to sell Iraqi oil under the U.N. program. Marlena married Cooke in May 1990, but the marriage was declared void three and a half years later when her divorce from Chalmers was ruled invalid. According to court records, it was falsely obtained in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 4, 1986. She remarried Cooke in July 1995. Last we heard, Marlena, who served three and a half months in federal prison in the ’80s for conspiring to import cocaine in to the U.S., was living in Europe.

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President Bush jokes on Friday about a sore arm after throwing out the first pitch Thursday for the Washington Nationals home opener.

What a salute it was!

The Kennedy Center’s 13th annual gala on Sunday evening, which saluted the 1940s Broadway musical, raised $2.8 million. Co-chairs Joe Robert and Jim Kimsey, both partners in the Washington Baseball Club who hope to win ownership of the Nationals, “made a choice” to skip a game for the gala where NSO pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch put together a blockbuster show which included Broadway stars Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Elaine Stritch. But baseball as well as the arts was on Kimsey’s mind. “The president’s [opening day] pitch was perfect,” he said. “Even a Hollywood director couldn’t have made it better.”The Kennedy Center guest list was A-plus: Sec. Donald Rumsfeld; White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and counsel Karl Rove; Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff; former Sec. of State Colin Powell; Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; actresses Julie Andrews and Bo Derek; and many members of Congress and Washington’s social elite.

Former Kennedy Center Chairman Jim Johnson said he was looking forward to attending the the 50th anniversary of the first Mayor Daley, Mayor Richard J. Daley’s Inauguration in Chicago today. To honor the Daley legacy, Johnson’s former boss, Vice President Walter Mondale, as well as former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, Sen. Ted Kennedy, former New York Mayor Ed Koch, former DNC Chairman Bob Strauss and former U.N. Ambassador Andy Young are scheduled to speak at a symposium as well as the current Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Cheering for W

At Thursday night’s opening game support and excitement for our Washington Nationals was not the only thing that fans had in common. Everywhere you looked, VIPs – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.; Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; and former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp – were wearing the DC Baseball Association’s “W” lapel pin. Local politicians – Mayor Anthony Williams, City Administrator Robert Bobb and Deputy Mayors Neil Albert, Stan Jackson and Herb Tillary – were all seen wearing the pin. Word is, that the Secret Service has even handed a pin to President Bush to wear. The “W” (not Dubya) pin will go on sale next week at the nonprofit DC Baseball Association’s Web site, www.dcbba.org.

Sitting comfortably

The DC Baseball Association’s Hospitality Suite for Mayor Williams was packed to the gills before the president threw out the ceremonial opening pitch. Others taking a break from the stands to enjoy the hospitality and hear the mayor lobby for money for D.C.: Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.; Reps. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, and Mark Foley, R-Fla.; Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales; Chairman of Thayer Capital Partners Fred Malek and his wife, Marlene; Hardballer Chris Matthews; Tim Russert; AOL Chairman Emeritus James Kimsey; and D.C. Council Members Jim Graham, Kwame Brown and Carol Schwartz.

High impact

Jane Fonda, in town to flog her new book, “My Life So Far,” drew a big crowd to the National Press Club on Friday evening. Among those who came out to see the actress: former Colorado Sen. Tim Wirth, now president of Turner’s United Nations Foundation; feminist Gloria Steinem; Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift; and Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.

Fonda posed for photos and signed autographs with star-charm at the reception, but as one guest remarked: “Her best shot is the airbrush-enhanced one on the back cover.”

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