C Street

Peter J. Boyer has an excellent piece in The New Yorker about DC’s notorious den of sex scandals and conservative politics, 133 C Street SE.  Locals will be interested in how the place came to be the “Frat House for Jesus” for conservative congressmen.

After fundamentalist leader Douglas Coe helped wealthy Michael Timmis and his son reconcile, writes Boyer, the grateful Timmis bought the C Street townhouse for “Coe’s sons, David and Tim, and their friend Marty Sherman.”

“The Coe brothers and Sherman had been schoolmates at James Madison University, where they were part of a fraternity for believers, and tried to model themselves after the early Christians described in the Book of Acts. After graduating, they apprenticed with the Fellowship, and saw a chance to branch out when the house on C Street became available.

C Street Summer Fun

 

The organization behind Capitol Hill’s notorious C Street house has been sending conservative congressmen overseas to pray with foreign leaders, reports Paul Singer in Roll Call.  Since 2000, the Fellowship Foundation spent over $100,000 on 13 of these foreign prayer trips. More than half the money went to Alabama’s Robert Aderholt (R, AL-4), who took six trips to bring Jesus to leaders of countries like Sudan, Serbia, and Kazakhstan.  Other C Street trippers:  Reps. Mike Doyle (D, PA-14), Frank Wolf (R, VA-10) , Joe Pitts (R, PA-16) and John Carter (R, TX-31) and Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). Both Senators have lived at the C Street house; Congressman Doyle still does.

Summer at C Street

 

It’s summertime at C Street, the DC home of The Family (aka The Fellowship) and conservative Christian politicians. Political sex scandals seem to be elsewhere right now, but controversy is still in the C Street neighborhood.

The Office of Congressional Ethics has responded to a complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) that conservative congressmen are living at the Capitol Hill townhouse at below market rates, a clear violation of House ethics. An investigation appears to be underway. CREW filed a similar complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Ensign Evicted From C Street?

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) is leaving his long-time DC digs at 133 C Street SE on Capitol Hill, where a conservative Christian cabal maintains rooms for powerful lawmakers (the building is registered as a church and pays no taxes). Is “the Fellowship” forcing Senator Ensign to leave his below-market bargain pied-à-terre?

No. The senator maintains he left on his own, to spare other house residents further negative publicity — as if he, Chip Pickering, and  Mark Sanford had never lived, loved, and prayed at C Street. It is true, though, that Mr. Ensign, an Evangelical, will probably have to face the glare of the Senate Ethics Committee to explain the pay-offs made to his mistress, Cynthia Hampton, by his father, gambling magnate Mike Ensign. There is also talk of a Justice Department inquiry.

Summer at C Street

The House of Representatives will recess at the close of business on Friday, July 31st and the Senate on Friday, August 7th. Don’t waste time until September. Sign up now for C Street Vacation Bible School!

Share spiritual summer fun with your friends at the Fellowship. This year classes will be taught by experienced alumni —

John Ensign: “Love Thy Neighbor, Especially If She Works For You.”

Chip Pickering: “God’s Cell Phone Has a Family Plan.”

Mark Sanford: “The Ardent Argentina Tango of the Soul.”

 

This year’s craft project: beaded Bible covers designed by Doug Coe.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.