Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder — and The Hill staff,” In the Know columnist and 50 Most Beautiful co-editor Judy Kurtz told us. “We poured through hundreds of nominations to come up with our 2014 list. As you can see from our crop of ’50 Most Beautiful’ winners, beauty runs the gamut and the political spectrum!”
50 Most Beautiful
“Putting the list together is a tougher job than you think,” added former Hill staffer Emily Goodin. “People joke Washington is Hollywood for ugly people but there’s always plenty of beautiful faces to choose from. It’s a great list this year.”
“I was certainly surprised when I got the call,” said Neil Grace, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spokesman. “I’m used to getting calls from reporters on tough policy or tech issues, so this was a fun one and definitely a fun item for summer in Washington. It’s a nice nod after living and working in DC for more than ten years. And I’m clearly in good company with some friends on the list.”
Neil Grace
The Hill’s 11th Annual 50 Most Beautiful feature comes out today and several hundred guests celebrated at Poste in Penn Quarter, an event co-sponsored by National Beer Wholesalers Association recognizing the Beltway’s best-looking as nominated by their peers and chosen by The Hill staff.
“For more than a decade, ‘50 Most Beautiful’ has given Washington a rare opportunity to enjoy the glamour, humor, and plain fun behind all the daily seriousness of this city,” said Bob Cusack, the new editor-in-chief of The Hill. “This year, we were excited to also open our buzziest feature to our influential and engaged audience. So, I just wanted to give a toast to everybody who made the cut and if you didn’t make the cut, get your beauty rest and maybe you’ll make it next year.”
The Toast:
We wanted to know if Cusack had ever been on ‘da list’ to which he responded: “No, I never was. I’ve been with The Hill though since 2003 so I was ineligible for all those years. If you work at the paper in any capacity, you can’t be on the list. Now, I’ve worked in Washington as a journalist from 1995 to 2003, but unfortunately I never made the list.
This [50 Most Beautiful] has been an enormous success for us. When we started a long time ago, we had to think hard about it and it was definitely the right decision and it has become such a Waahington tradition – the debates about who should be on it, who shouldn’t be,who is eligible for it. My friends will email me who are not interested in politics and they’ll give their feedback even when I haven’t asked for it.”
Rebecca Copper has never been on it either:”Heck no,” she said. “Have you seen me in the morning and at the end of the day?” Yup, we have, and think she should be on the list. Colleague Steve Chenevey of FOX5 agrees. So, who’s the most beautiful we asked him: “Rebecca Cooper, without a doubt,” he said without hesitation. “Good answer,” responded Cooper. “Now, I’ve got to quit while I’m ahead.”
ABC7/WJLA-TV News reporter and Washington Business Report anchor Rebecca Cooper and Bob Cusack
Talking to C-SPAN’s Communications Director Howard Mortman was a hoot as always. He doesn’t get out much anymore according to him…young children and all. “Have I ever been on the list? No, hardly. But I’ve been a runner up with the top 5,000. It’s must be my third eye. It always makes me unattractive.” So who does he think is the most attractive on the list? “Morgan Fairchild. Oh, she’s not on the list? I’m so out of it. I must be at the wrong party. I’m at the wrong reception. I thought I was attending the reception for the Gleekfelder bar mitzvah. Brought a Cross Pen and everything…”
Howard Mortman
“I like lists,” said U.S. News & World Report’s columnist Nikki Schwab. “It gives me something fun to look through. It’s fun seeing who’s hot in the city. I’ve not been on this list, but have been on Washington Life’s Young and the Guest List which is super fun.”
Rebecca Spicer -Vice President of Public. Affairs & Communications for NBWA,
Washington Life’s Kevin Chaffee showed up in his seersucker best: “They still wear this,” he said referring to Congressional Members. “On Thursday. They’re stuck in the fifites.”
Washington Life’s Kevin Chaffee
According to Senate History, the story goes like this: “In the years before air conditioning made summertime Washington bearable, senators from the South had much to teach their colleagues from other regions about proper attire. As spring merged into summer, southern senators shed their heavy-wool black frock coats for lighter linen and cotton garments. In 1907, a New Orleans clothier made summer wear more comfortable by designing a light-weight suit in pale blue and white striped rumpled cotton fabric. He named that fabric “seersucker,” from Persian words meaning “milk and sugar.” Seersucker suits became widely popular because they retained their fashionable good looks despite the frequent washing that humid summers made necessary.
In the late 1990s, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott decided the time had come to revive a long-forgotten Senate sartorial tradition. He selected a “nice and warm” day in the second or third week of June to be designated Seersucker Thursday. His goal was to show that “the Senate isn’t just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and—in the case of men—red or blue ties.” On the day before each year’s event, senators are alerted to the impending “wearing of the seersucker.”
Guests guzzeled beer, read the newspaper and wondered where all the Congressional Members were. Home packing it up for recess we assumed.
Sean Spicer, Rebecca Spicer and Pat Raffaniello
Nikki Schwab and Brendan Kownacki
Until next year – ‘that’s all folks’
Rebecca Cooper and Nick Massella
