Eni on Colbert? Ya Gotta Be Kidding!

Lisa Williams must be at it again. She is thought to be the person who came up with the ingenious idea to have opposition leaders from a foreign country testify be foreign Eni's subcommittee. When Republicans and State Department howled, Committee Chairman Tom Lantos stepped in and forced Eni to relabel it a briefing, and invite both U.S. and foreign (in this came Marshall Islands) to testify.

Insular subcommittee Chairman Dona Christiansen is said to be annoyed because Eni trumped her own hearing. True, an argument can be made for Eni having jurisdiction but Marshall Islands issues traditionally have been considered by the Natural Resources Committee.

Congress in in recess, which means Members are traveling. Christiansen's subcommittee is in Guam and Saipan for hearings this week and are scheduled to go th Palau for familiarization. Even though he is a senior member of the subcommittee, Eni isn't on the trip. Since he loves to travel, why not? One can only speculate but he did show up on Stephen Colbert's show on Comedy Central this week. In case you missed it, you may still be able to find the clip here:

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml


Of course, he looks ridiculous in his trademark Indian tie and is coatless, which is increasingly his style of dress, even when chairing a hearing. Of course, Colbert made a fool of him and I would not be surprised to see a heading in L.A. saying "Samoan representative recommends nuclear testing on Catalina Island." That's why Rep. Rahm Emanuel earlier this year told the Democrat freshman class to stay off Colbert's show. See this:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/emanuel-tells-freshmen-to-
avoid-stephen-colbert-2007-03-14.html

There may be another reason as well. Yesterday I saw a story out of Palau that an 18-person congressional delegation is expected there this month. Since only Christiansen and Madeleine Bordallo, and probably one staffer, are going from Natural Resources, do you suppose it's another subcommittee going to Palau a bit later? Like Eni's, maybe? More trumping of Donna's ace. She will be furious. More handiwork of Lisa Williams? Who knows. We've been told Lantos demanded she be sent back to Eni's office and off the Foreign Affairs staff after the Marshalls fiasco.


But I digress. I guess playing a clown on Colbert is more important (he even issued a press release!) than attending an insular field hearing, even though the subject matter--immigration--could affect American Samoa the way minimum wage for NMI did.