Could it be that Karl Rove and Andy Card are both burned out and would like to leave their White House positions sooner rather than later? Card had hoped to follow Don Regan‘s path and be named Treasury secretary. Since that’s unlikely to happen, he may try to hang in long enough to set a record as longest-serving White House chief of staff. That record is held by John Steelman, who was the first person to hold that job and served President Harry Truman for 73 months. If that’s the case, Card has 13 months to go. Word is that the president will name Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten to replace Card.Slatkin gets key to D.C.
Mayor Anthony Williams presented NSO maestro Leonard Slatkin with the fifth key to the city at Kathy Kemper’s INFO Public Policy Roundtable at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel yesterday morning. The key was designed by local sculptor John Dreyfuss. Slatkin, a longtime St. Louis Cardinals fan, admitted he doesn’t usually conduct before breakfast, but made an exception and led the group – including Esther Coopersmith, Ina Ginsburg, Mort Kondracke, Nohra Pastrana and Frederick Webber – in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
Touting hizzoner’s gains
Noting the mayor’s accomplishments in the 10 years he’s been in D.C., Slatkin said: “Not only have we gone from a deficit to a surplus, but now I can drive in the city without losing the axles on my car.” He also acknowledged the mayor for “reacting as a human, not a politician” in the crucial areas of arts and education. And “the man gave us a baseball team.”
Memories of 60 years of CARE
French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte and his wife hosted a reception Monday at their residence to celebrate the 60th anniversary of CARE, an organization that battles global poverty. The ambassador pointed out that France was the first country to receive CARE packages when the boxes filled with basic supplies were delivered to Normandy on May 11, 1946. Miriam Woodhouse, who sent an early CARE package to her family in Norway, attended the reception, as did George Seltzer, of Baltimore, who received one of the first gifts.
Spotted among the guests: General and Mrs. Peter Pace, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., Cartier of North America CEO Frederic de Narp, and CARE USA President Peter Bell.
Also there: the newly remarried Sheila Johnson, looking radiant. She’s looking forward to the much-delayed opening of her Salamander Inn & Spa in Middleburg, Va., now set for spring 2008. Johnson said she hopes to have theme weekends and have a variety of doctors participating. The plans call for a 27,000-square-foot spa and equestrian space.
Sighting: “Dallas” actor Larry “JR” Hagman in the kitchen at La Perla Monday evening to supervise chef Victor Testa preparing his spaghetti carbonara. Hagman approved, proclaiming it “exquisite.” He was a guest of former U.S. ambassador to Hungary and founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Nancy Brinker. La Perla in D.C.’s West End is a favorite haunt of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who enjoys the fermented ricotta and green olives from Italy; Sen. Dick Shelby, R-Ala., Gen. Colin Powell, George Tenet and Frank Carlucci, whose family is from Ischia Island next to Capri and the Amalfi Coast, as is chef Testa.
Celebrating Placido … again
Maestro Placido Domingo celebrates his 10th anniversary with the Washington National Opera and his 65th birthday on Friday. At the celebration – held where else but on the stage of the Kennedy Center Opera House – the Washington National Opera will present the maestro with a commissioned portrait by acclaimed French photographer Antoine Schneck. Banners with this image will line Virginia and New Hampshire avenues leading up to the Kennedy Center.
New restaurant, new ambassador
Bill McCormick & Doug Schmick, of Portland, Ore.-based McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood fame, plan to open a first-of-its-kind eatery downtown at the corner of 17th and K streets near their own restaurant in May or June. The company is taking over Boston’s venerable Jimmy’s Harborside Restaurant and bringing it to D.C. Count on the fare being high-end steaks with, what else, fresh seafood, but we hear it won’t even resemble McCormick & Schmick’s. Attorneys at Winston and Strawn will have a new lunch spot right in their office building. And yes, this is the same Bill McCormick who is the new U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and was the 2004 Bush campaign finance co-chair for Oregon.