What’s Happening in Washington?--It’s a Scandal

A Washington seminar this fall entitled “Scandals, Scoundrels & Saints” will feature plenty of each, its sponsors promise. Under the auspices of the Senior Executives Assn., 200 senior career government officials will pay fees of up to $445 to hear, from the horse’s mouth, why scandals keep happening “despite a vigilant press . . . despite ever more restrictive laws and legislation.” Speakers include Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), just last week embroiled in controversy over hiring a male prostitute as an aide; Jeb Stuart Magruder, former aide to President Richard M. Nixon who was involved in the Watergate scandal, and former Inspector General Charles L. Dempsey of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose subject is “The Flesh Is Willing.” Participants will take an evening “Scandals Tour of Washington” that will include the Watergate complex and the townhouse where 1988 presidential candidate Gary Hart entertained model Donna Rice. President Bush’s ethics czar, White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, has been invited, but has not confirmed an acceptance.

--Henry VIII, who in his day wrote the book on scandal in high places, finally succumbed to a mundane vice, poor eating habits, a historian has concluded. Susan Maclean Kybett argues that Henry died in 1547 at age 56 of scurvy, a disease caused by lack of Vitamin C. “Nobody in the Tudor era associated food with health. They hoped in vain that the concoctions of the alchemist would bring a cure,” Kybett wrote. Swollen, ulcerated legs, bad breath, colds, constipation, lethargy, bloating and wild mood swings were among Henry’s frequent symptoms, Kybett noted.

--Living a life anything but scandalous these days, Hugh Hefner, 63, who last month married Playboy model Kimberley Conrad, 26, all but declared the domestic scene will be complete next spring with the arrival of a youngster. Said Hefner: “If anybody is wondering how we spent our honeymoon, they’ll find out in April.” Hefner, a bachelor for the last 30 years, has two children by a former marriage: Christie, 36, the head of Playboy Enterprises in Chicago, and David, 34, a computer specialist in Northern California.