King and Delay dine in style in DC

The Capitol Hill Newspaper Roll Call reports this:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Rep. Steve King had a juicy steak dinner at Sam & Harry’s on Tuesday night, the evening before one-time uber-lobbyist jack Abramoff was due to begin serving his prison sentence for the Florida half of his corruption conviction.

DeLay – whose demise, of course, is linked to the Ambramoff corruption scandal – enjoyed a steak, according to sources in the restaurant. He and King chatted and whispered away at a cozy table against the wall.

No word on who gave who more gossip. DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said only, “Let’s just say Sam & Harry’s wasn’t the only one dishing out read meat.”

Well, we do know that DeLay had plenty to tell King about his five former staffers, who were able to continue drawing a salary in the Hammer’s personal office even after DeLay resigned last June. On Tuesday morning, as HOG reported Wednesday, all five staffers walked out on DeLay’s successor, Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R-Texas), because they thought she was “mean.”

Sekula-Gibbs seems to see no irony in her status as a seven-week-term Congresswoman who promises an ambitious legislative agenda that includes Medicare reform. After winning the special election to replace DeLay, she lost a write-in bid for the full term in the 110^th Congress.

King’s spokeswoman, Summer Johnson, said, “As you can imagine, after Nov. 7, ther was really nothing jovial about the conversation.”