Not the First Argentine Bombshell

       Washington loves nothing better than a juicy scandal. In recent weeks the media gods hurled more thunderbolts upon the Capital city, with the disclosure of two new congressional scalawags: a U.S. Senator and a Governor—both men potential candidates for president.

       Bloggers and journalists are a-Twitter with news of the marital infidelities of Senator John Ensign (R-NV) and Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC). The latest salacious bone comes in the form of steamy e-mail exchanges between Governor Sanford and his Argentine sweetie.

       But this is not the first time a congressman was swept off his feet by a Latin lover. One incident took place back in the Seventies and involved the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Wilbur Mills (D-Ark). Nothing was spent in Washington without the approval of the arrogant congressman, who once told reporters that he went home every night and studies the Tax Revenue Code.

       One morning about 2 a.m., Mills was stopped for speeding with his car lights off. His companion turned out to be not Mrs. Mills, but a 38-year-old stripper, aka Fanne Fox, the “Argentine Firecracker.” In the heat of the moment, Fanne sprang from the car and leaped into the nearby Tidal Basin. Now that’s the kind of story that makes headlines and derails careers—his, more than hers, as it turned out.

Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.)

       Although Mills was re-elected the following month, he was removed from his chairmanship and did not seek re-election. Fanne continued stripping as the Tidal Basin Bombshell, wrote a book, and returned to Argentina. When asked what he had learned from the embarrassing ordeal, Mills responded that it taught him to “never drink champagne with foreigners.”

       A few years later, 64-year-old, Rep. Wayne Hays, (D-Ohio), claimed the headlines when it was discovered that he was paying a secretary, Elizabeth Ray, $14,000 a year, (a tidy sum in those days), although she seldom showed up at the office. Nonetheless, the blonde beauty queen rated a personal office in the Capitol with thick, red carpet, a red phone, and even a red typewriter.

       During an investigation of her skills and services, the 27-year-old woman displayed her honesty, if not her political acumen, with the classic announcement, “I can’t type, I can’t file, I can’t even answer the phone.”

       Hayes political career took a nosedive. The man who once aspired to be president retired, but later won a seat on his local school board. Ray published a book aptly titled Making Hays, modeled for Playboy, and tried her hand at acting and standup comedy.

       It remains to be seen if the current stories are career-ending episodes. With more revelations likely on the way, it looks like we’re in for a long, hot summer, strangely, like those we’ve witnessed too many time before.