Getting a once-or-twice-monthly op-ed column in the Times might not be as as much of a political no-fly zone as thirteen charges of ethics violations. But like Rangel’s birthday party, the excuses are already coming in as to why White House advisers David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, and Rahm Emanuel won’t be attending former Obama budget director Peter Orszag’s wedding this weekend to ABC’s Bianna Golodryga at Capitale on Bowery. (Why couldn’t Mattel have modeled their new News Anchor Barbie after her?) Perhaps Orszag shouldn’t have used the occasion of his first column to trash Obama’s tax package. Then there was the matter of dumping his pregnant shipping-heiress girlfriend for Golodryga in the first place.
Jarrett really wanted to come, really she did. But she had to attend a memorial service for the mother of Attorney General Eric Holder, “a dear friend.” Just in case the events overlapped, she canceled two weeks ago. One source told the Post that the advisers are picking sides: “Basically they want to show a unified front, that they are not hanging out with the enemy.” A top White House official asked Politico to run this poll: “Who is the more disloyal former staffer: Peter Orszag or Steven Rattner?”
Orszag snub? [Politico]
Obama trio planning to skip ex-budget director Peter Orszag’s wedding [Page Six/NYP]
