Posted on 10/02/2002 8:18:06 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
AND NOW for another Holly Kinser episode.
The statuesque blonde lobbyist known for attracting the spotlight because of her friendship with Democrat Ed Rendell and her divorce from state House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese had a little encounter of the Republican kind.
It was last week in a Harrisburg hotel, then in a nightclub. It was over the governor's race. And it wasn't pretty.
"It was about as confrontational a conversation as I've seen in this town in 10 years," said a witness to the nightclub scene.
There were two parts to the evening.
Kinser, a lobbyist for Wojdak & Associates, first went at Mike Fisher's TV guru, Pittsburgh-based John Brabender, and later, at Fisher's campaign manager, Kent Gates.
Brabender first.
In a hotel elevator and then at a dinner table in the Golden Sheaf in the Harrisburg Hilton, Kinser told Brabender she heard he was putting her in a negative TV ad about Rendell.
Brabender confirms the encounter last Wednesday night, says that Kinser asked about possible ads and that he told her, "I have no intention of airing anything relative to her in this campaign."
Holly Kinser represented the city of Philadelphia when Rendell was mayor. The two often were seen - and occasionally photographed - together socially. Kinser was married to DeWeese at the time. After they split, DeWeese blamed Rendell.
Earlier this year, DeWeese avidly supported Bob Casey Jr. for governor. Then he tried to prevent Kinser from lobbying in Harrisburg.
Insiders often buzz about possible TV ads attacking Rendell personally. The buzz was around during the primary against Casey. In some circles, it continues today. Kinser is said to be especially anxious about the prospect of such ads.
That could explain why later that night she got in the face of Gates.
At NOMA, a nightclub across the street from the Hilton, Kinser was introduced to Gates and, according to a witness, began the conversation with, "I hate your guts."
She then ran the same TV-ad number on Gates that she ran on Brabender, this time with much more gusto.
A witness said, "She towers over Kent to start with, and she's standing there jabbing a finger in his chest saying, 'Don't you f--- with me!'"
The scene was described by witnesses as boisterous, uncomfortable and antagonistic.
"Yeah, that's a fair characterization," Kinser told me yesterday.
She said it happened because "sometimes I'm a very candid person."
She denied using an obscenity: "I wouldn't say that...I didn't say that."
And she said her conversation with Brabender, whom she's known for years, was more cordial than with Gates.
As to Gates, she said, "I told him I didn't appreciate rumors I was hearing that he was spreading about me."
And how did she leave it?
"I didn't leave it, I just left."
Gates declined comment other than to say, "I'm sure I'm not her favorite person."
And word among GOP insiders now is that new Fisher ads offered for TV traffic might all be titled "Holly."
Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com
Oh, Rendell does think he is bill clinton and can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Like bang holly without getting a divorce from his wife, who is a Federal Judge in Philly.
TWO NAMES ALL PA VOTERS SHOULD KNOW BEFORE the ELECTION:
Lisa DePaulo
&
Holly Kinser
Gore's DNC Pick Got Crude and Lewd with Female Reporter
During his debate with former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley last Wednesday, Vice President Al Gore felt compelled to apologize for his boss's behavior with Monica Lewinsky.
"I understand the disappointment and anger that you feel toward President Clinton, and I felt it myself," Gore said when asked how he could change America's cynical attitude about modern politicians.
But if Gore was as angry as he says over Clinton's Lewinsky affair, media insiders are starting to wonder why he picked Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell to head up the Democratic National Committee -- given Rendell's own reputation for womanizing.
In April 1994, Rendell was profiled in Philadelphia magazine by reporter Lisa DePaulo, who spent an afternoon traveling with him to New York to meet Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
By DePaulo's account, Rendell started the trip by explaining to her that he and Bill Clinton had much in common. Then he attempted to prove his point.
"I probably shouldn't say this, because it might not be taken right," DePaulo quoted Rendell as saying, "but Clinton and I are very much alike."
The mayor pointed out that Clinton and he are both "gregarious and fun," both have big hearts, like junk food, love politics and are married to successful women. Then Rendell added with a laugh, "You can draw some other conclusions."
Based on what? Perhaps on Rendell's raunchy behavior toward the reporter, culminating in his attempt to bed her.
According to DePaulo, when something she was wearing set off the metal detector at New York's City Hall, Rendell squawked as guards looked on, "Take it off, Lis! Take everything off."
Later on, Rendell attempted to debunk rumors of his own Clintonesque recklessness:
"When all this b---s--t popped up during my campaigns about me using my power position to abuse women," Rendell told DePaulo, "that's not true. I've never done anything to hurt women -- or men."
"There's got to be a statute of limitations on this stuff," Rendell added, ostensibly referring to the then-new charges by Arkansas state troopers that Bill Clinton used them to help stock his harem.
After making excuses for both Clinton and himself, Rendell decided the moment was right to explore his prospects for a less professional relationship with the reporter.
Rendell said he'd heard "something very interesting about me," DePaulo reported. Then the mayor proceeded to describe, "in raw and alliterative terms, how he presumes I am in bed. All of which he says I 'should find flattering.'"
DePaulo was offended enough to blow the whistle on Rendell's thinly veiled proposition, which she recounted as follows:
"It was cute, for example, at the train station -- after I noticed he'd forgotten his bag in the car -- when he gave me a little hug and said, 'Lis, you're a lifesaver. I owe you one.'"
"It was still pretty cute a few minutes later on the train platform: 'Anything your heart desires. No task is too menial, too trivial or too abject.' Later in the train, it's a little less cute as he's going through his itinerary: 'They didn't schedule any time for me to do whatever you ask me to. Remember, I owe you one.'"
"Even the following morning, he's still on this rant: He hopes to squeeze in a workout at the Plaza Hotel, he tells me. 'Or,' he adds, 'you can get your favor then.'"
With Ed Rendell at the helm of the DNC, it looks like Al Gore may be in for some more anger and disappointment.
Absolutely. I can and do. Fair game in every case. If anything, I hold Republicans to a higher standard than Democrats.
Just goes to show the radio guy's ignorant bias. Harvard is a liberal bastion of academic snootery and shifty, disengenous misinformation. Those attending Vo-Tech pursue careers involving straightforward, honest labor.
Typical blonde bimbo liberal presstitute.
They're a dime a dozen, cheaper if you're a 'Rat running for office.
Hot? Maybe... but IMHO hot and smelly... like a damp, overripe gym locker...
While there may be some validity for the stereotype, I don't particularly care for that generalization.
There are many, many highly intelligent people who pursue Vo-Tech careers. Perhaps due to economic limitations, perhaps because that's simply where their abilities and interests lie.
I'm quite certain that you're totally indiscriminate in matters of fornication.
Some people are simply fixated that way, taking whatever they can get, whenever and whereever they can get it.
It's a disgustingly regressive, self-destructive trait. Sorry to hear that you're so afflicted.
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