It's good to see the Stender campaign jumping on this and pointing out the hypocricy of Ferguson's protestations against Foley. He is part of the problem, and the folks in NJ7 need to realize that.
This piece, with the party graphic, the loud callout on the front page and the entire news article with no redactions makes the point clearly.
The Congressman's Night on the Town
By Lloyd Grove, Washington Post Page C03, April 4, 2003
Washington -- In his dark suit, knotted tie and official congressional ID pin on his lapel, Republican House member Mike Ferguson looked out of place at the Rhino Bar and Pumphouse, a Georgetown saloon popular with college kids.
"He shouldn't have even been at the bar," 21-year-old Georgetown University junior Michelle Mezoe told us. "He and his group" – two unidentified staffers, also wearing suits – "stuck out like sore thumbs."
Yesterday Mezoe accused the congressman, a 32-year-old married father of three representing New Jersey's 7th District, of grabbing her in the wee hours Wednesday morning. She said Ferguson removed his ID pin and handed it to her, saying she could keep it if she would "come back and have a drink with me." Mezoe said she refused to return it unless Ferguson apologized for his "disrespectful" behavior. An apology was not forthcoming.
Ferguson initially refused to speak to us, leaving his chief of staff, Chris Jones, to counter: "What I can tell you is this is absolutely ridiculous and false... The congressman emphatically denies this." Jones wasn't at the bar.
Late last night Ferguson changed his mind and dictated to us the following statement:
"I was having a couple of beers with my staff when she approached us and noticed my pin and began to ask about it. In a conversation that lasted fewer than five minutes, I had taken off my pin to show it to her. She then took the pin and walked away, and wouldn't give it back until the police were called. Any other sensational stories about this are outrageous and false."
Mezoe said the incident began around 1 a.m. as she strolled past Ferguson, who was leaning against the bar on the second floor. She said Ferguson, a Georgetown alum, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him, introducing himself as a member of Congress. He pulled out his congressional ID card, she said, and pointed to his pin. "That's special," she said sarcastically. "Yes, it is special," he replied earnestly, she said.
"He came across as very arrogant, as though he was invincible," Mezoe said. "He appeared older, slightly balding, not someone I wanted to talk to. . . . It was very obvious I was a student and not someone to sit down and talk politics with over a late-night drink. I don't think he was interested in my political views."
Mezoe told us that as last call was announced, Ferguson gave her the pin – which she attached to her shirt. When she declined Ferguson's offer to "come back" for a drink, Mezoe continued, Ferguson demanded his pin back. According to Mezoe and other witnesses, she refused to return it unless he apologized, and walked away.
A Ferguson staffer tried to change her mind. "This guy in a suit came up and said, 'I'm sorry, it's my fault. I brought him here and got him drunk, and that's why he's behaving like this.' He asked for the pin and started stroking my hand. I told him, 'If you think you're helping the situation, you are sadly mistaken.' "
Then, Mezoe added, a young jeans-wearing woman, who seemed to be with Ferguson's group, approached and tried to remove the pin by force, grabbing at her chest. The attempt was unsuccessful. Finally, Mezoe said, she was granted a brief audience with the congressman as his aides stood close by. "What is your perspective on what happened here?" she asked. "You stole my pin and you won't give it back," he answered. To which Mezoe replied: "How old are your children, Congressman Ferguson?"
Mezoe said the staffers immediately interposed themselves between her and their boss. "You have offended the congressman," one informed her, she said.
Ferguson's chief of staff yesterday insisted that no such words were ever uttered, that no hand-stroking occurred, and that no young woman with the congressman's party ever approached Mezoe and grabbed at her.
But everyone agrees that Mezoe stood her ground, even after manager Dave Nelson offered her a $50 gift certificate to return the pin. "I won't be bribed, it's the principle of the thing," Mezoe responded, continuing to insist on an apology. Nelson then called the police, and after 2nd District D.C. Police Officer Robert Ferretti arrived and cuffed one of her wrists, Mezoe said she returned the trinket. No charges were filed, and the police department's public affairs office declined to make Ferretti available for an interview.
