Jerry Seinfeld is famous for saying that his long-running sitcom was ultimately a show "about nothing". It seems like the Washington Post is trying to use that idea as the framework for their news reports.

Boehner Rents Apartment Owned by Lobbyist in D.C.

So new House Majority Leader Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has just found himself at the center of a mini-scandal. Has he done anything illegal? Has he even done anything that appears to be illegal? Watch how the WaPo contorts the English language in the hope they've got something on Representative Boehner.

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who was elected House majority leader last week, is renting his Capitol Hill apartment from a veteran lobbyist whose clients have direct stakes in legislation Boehner has co-written and that he has overseen as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Ooh, that sounds so dirty and unethical!

The relationship between Boehner, John D. Milne and Milne's wife, Debra R. Anderson, underscores how intertwined senior lawmakers have become with the lobbyists paid to influence legislation. Boehner's primary residence is in West Chester, Ohio, but for $1,600 a month, he rents a two-bedroom basement apartment near the House office buildings on Capitol Hill owned by Milne, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour said yesterday. Boehner's monthly rent appears to be similar to other rentals of two-bedroom English basement apartments close to the House side of the Capitol in Southeast, based on a review of apartment listings......

House members may not accept anything from lobbyists worth more than $50. If Boehner is paying market-rate rent, it would appear he is not violating that rule.

First of all, Boehner's rent either is or is not similar to other rentals in the area. We're dealing with hard numbers here. If he pays $1,600 and other rentals are $1,600 or between $1,400 and $1,800 per current newspaper ads, it is similar. If the average for the area is $2,400 a month, it's not. There's no "appears" when you're dealing with hard numbers. 2+2 does not appear to equal 4.

Then having declared that Boehner's rent appears similar (which I take to mean "is similar"), the paper expalins that it "appears" that the $50 rule is not being violated. Again, the rule either is or isn't being violated. And to be honest, if it's that unclear, it's just not that big a deal. Maybe they can get somone to calculate how much he's paying in rent per square foot compared to his neighbors in the hope that he's underpaying by $53.34.

So, to sum up, Rep. Boehner has not done anything wrong. I didn't even post the part of the article that says that he has not been the focus of any lobbying by the apartment's owners since he's had the apartment.

It's a news story about "nothing" - what a great idea! Republicans have their scary "L" word (liberal), and now Democrtas have theirs (lobbyist).