The Week's Odd Dealings

Former Sen./Gov. George Allen has filed papers to form a political-action committee to raise funds to put conservative candidates into office. Allen's PAC is called Good Government Action Fund (GGAF). Apparently Allen thought it would be a better idea to name his PAC something that sounded like "gaffe" rather than his initial name for it — My Action Committee Allied for Conservative America.

Saints be praised! Fighting Joe Morrissey is running for the 74th District House seat that will be vacated by Donald McEachin (who is making a run at Benjamin Lambert's 9th District Senate seat). If the gods of column writing are looking down upon me sweetly on June 12, Morrissey will triumph. However, if the gods of good sense should have their way ...

If I had no children to care for and nothing to do with my day, I would most certainly be camped out at Richmond Circuit Court with a bag of Doritos at the Johnny Johnson trial. Even reading it in the paper has been riveting in its weirdness. Not weird in a "what-kind-of-insane-hair-will-Phil-Specter-show-up-with-today?" sort of way, but, you know, Richmond weird. Strange enough has been the tale of the rags-to-riches-to-rags Johnson allegedly being driven out of business and to physical and mental ruin by Goliath supermarket chain Supervalu. But when you thought it couldn't get any stranger, here comes Jim Ukrop Himself, once the benefactor and mentor of Johnson, testifying for the defense that Johnson was not satisfied with slow growth of his businesses and bit off more than he could chew. "I was personally always trying to slow him down," Ukrop said. OK, so it's not exactly "if it doesn't fit you must acquit" but I'll bet that courtroom was breathless yesterday.

Speaking of weird — how about that Ray McAllister column about VCU and Oregon Hill? In a nutshell it said, “Give up, David. Goliath is not only big but also important. And also, big.” But what really seemed odd was the “quit ‘cher whining” tone the column struck. I must agree that it seems unlikely Oregon Hill will win this one but how can one expect after all these years of vigorously defending its borders and unique character that Oregon Hill — of all neighborhoods — would give up without a fight?

In the annals of suspicious stories (JonBenet, the Lindbergh baby, Pia Zadora's Golden Globe) it is hard to imagine one that rivals Andrew Speaker's. Speaker is the guy with TB who's been traveling all over the world coughing on people. OK, apparently he's not coughing — yet — but he has a particularly rare and dangerous strain of tuberculosis that is found in pockets of Russia and Asia. The story was bizarre enough when we learned that he traveled all over the world after being warned and eventually ordered not to and that he was let into the U.S. by border inspectors even though he was on a list to detain. Now this — the unbelievable stunner: his new father-in-law is a microbiologist at the Centers for Disease Control whose specialty is — wait for it — TB!!!! Everyone official insists the guy in no way contracted it from the CDC lab. Are you frickin' kidding me? —Janet Giampietro