Pols, dancers & all under one roof

Published October 18, 2007 4:00am ET



Courtesy Stacey Vaeth

Take it all off

Politicians are usually careful about being seen in the company of strippers. So it caught a few people by surprise that mere feet from where Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., was holding a fundraiser Tuesday night at Sonoma Restaurant on Capitol Hill, a burlesque show was taking place down the hall.

No, it wasn’t an example of a perfectly executed negative campaign tactic by a political opponent; it was a book party for “Gilded Lili,” a new biography of burlesque dancer Lili St. Cyr, written by local freelance writer Kelly DiNardo. One spy also said Reps. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., were at Doyle’s event.

We asked the dancer, Kitty Victorian, whether she would perform for the congressmen. “Sure,” she said. “Just as long as they buy a book.” Fortunately for the careers of all congressmen involved, no such arrangements were made.