Lawmakers Have a Sense of Humor About This “Paying For Sex” Business

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An item from today’s Hill, reproduced without comment but with plenty of giggles:

Which member of Congress was scaring the bejesus out of colleagues late Tuesday night by putting in fake reporter requests to speak to lawmakers about Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the D.C. Madam?

Reporters long have filled out cards in the Speaker’s Gallery to request face-time with members. An aide brings the card to the particular member on the House floor and he or she decides whether to come out and chat with the requesting scribe.

The rambunctious lawmaker filled out cards posing as a Washington Post reporter, only to watch the color drain from the faces of unsuspecting co-workers when confronted with the cards from a “journalist” writing about Hill types caught up in a scandal related to an alleged prostitution ring.