WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- News notes, political rumors and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Refinish line -- Proper Bostonians may be turned on their ears once they hear the stories a former speechwriter to GOP Gov. Bill Weld has to tell in his new book. Robert Ebert Byrnes, who worked for the governor from 1992 to 1995, tells tales of his adventures at law school and in the Weld administration in a new book, "Brush with the Law."
One story, which is retold in Tuesday's Boston Herald, involves Byrnes and two Radcliffe college students with whom "he had a late night tryst on the antique conference table in the governor's office," the Herald says, adding, "The incident on the conference table quickly became 'urban legend' around the Weld administration, according to former staffers."
The table in question, on which Byrnes says he "rolled naked" with the Harvard female undergrads, is solid mahogany, has been in the governor's office for at least 100 years and is still used by Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift for meetings.
Take nothing for Granite -- Republican Congressman John Sununu continues to lead in the race for U.S. Senate from New Hampshire, according to the latest Granite State Poll. The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey center, shows Sununu has maintained his lead over incumbent Bob Smith in the GOP primary race and continues to enjoy a slim lead over Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.
Among likely GOP primary voters, Sununu leads Smith 51 percent to 37 percent. The survey of 563 registered voters interviewed between Jan. 25 and Feb. 5 shows Sununu beating Shaheen 49 percent to 42 percent while Shaheen beats Smith 46 percent to 43 percent. The margin of sampling error for the survey is plus or minus 4.1 percent.
Hoaxed -- The Competitive Enterprise Institute is the latest group to be taken in by a hoax spreading across the Internet involving the latest in what the well-dressed deer is wearing this year.
In the latest issue of its CEIUpdate newsletter, the libertarian-leaning group features a short item on the back page about a pro-animal rights effort that supposedly went horribly, horribly wrong.
According to the item, an animal rights group placed vests of "bright, blaze orange colors ... onto 405 captured deer that were then released back into the wild. The object, evidently, was to disguise deer as hunters" and keep them from being shot. According to the story, the effort went awry when the owner of a sporting goods store offered a $5 bounty for each vest, resulting in 308 of the deer being killed and leaving the animal rights group with egg on its face.
As we said, the story is a hoax, but CEI apparently was not the first to be taken in by it. File this one away with the phony 602P Internet tax alert.
Shhhhhhh! -- The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., kicked off an exhibit on "Secret Treaties: Tools & Artifacts of Diplomacy" on Friday. The library's most ambitious exhibition is designed to "mark the 30th anniversary of President Nixon's historic trip to China. 'Secret Treaties' tells the story of the treaties that created our world with never-before-seen artifacts, documents and photos."
Featured in the exhibit are such items of historical note as the Treaty of Westphalia and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo along with spy paraphernalia and the so-called "Kaiser's Blank Check," "a 1914 telegram, authorized by Wilhelm II, pledging German support to Austria, which helped spark World War I."
Visit Washington, win votes ... Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting representative from the District of Columbia to the U.S. Congress, sponsored a public meeting Tuesday intended to spark interest in the city and increase tourism.
The Ask Me About Washington Fair was held in conjunction with the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and featured "tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants (offering) samples and information to members of Congress and staff." A free buffet lunch was also served to the roughly 300 members and staff in attendance. According to a release, Norton also provided "a leaflet on D.C. tourist sites she is asking members to duplicate and send to constituents when they send constituent mail. The Fair for Members and staff only stresses that this is an election year when constituents generally come to D.C. in large numbers."
Personnel notes -- Ron Haskins has joined the White House on a temporary and part-time basis to be senior adviser for welfare policy, according to a statement released Tuesday. He'll work with the Domestic Policy Council and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on issues relating to the reauthorization of the federal welfare reform legislation. Haskins will continue to serve as a senior consultant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore and as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.
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