Boehner's Favorite Smoke-Filled Room
His own party's club won't let him light up, so House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been sneaking over to the National Democratic Club to smoke. Ironic, and a tad scandalous -- considering Boehner sits on the board of the Capitol Hill Club, where Republican members of Congress do their boozing and schmoozing.

But the Capitol Hill Club, unlike the Democratic Club, never got an exemption to get around the District's new smoking ban. And Boehner and other members are no longer allowed to smoke in the House Speaker's Lobby, thanks to Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) new rules. So what else is a Republican to do when he's jonesing for a smoke?

Boehner, who's hooked on Barclays, has popped into the Democratic Club -- a sad sack of a joint (compared to the tonier GOP club), which is frequented by union lobbyists -- on several occasions. Most recently on Wednesday night, when he was puffing and chatting with Democratic Reps. Allen Boyd (Fla.), Dennis Cardoza (Calif.) and Jim Costa (Calif.).

The minority leader was a such a hit that one of Boyd's constituents who was in the club grabbed a menu and asked Boehner to sign it. Boyd told the Sleuth that "while I worry about Mr. Boehner's health, I'm always a fan of Democrats and Republicans being in the same room, even if it has to be a smoky one." And he joked: "A Dem Club menu with the Minority Leader's signature...now that's probably rare enough to be really worth something!"

Lobbyist Tom Jolly, a longtime Democratic Club member, predicted that Boehner would become a fixture at the club since the minority leader can't smoke among his own. "I am one member who is delighted to have him as our guest," Jolly said, recalling how back in the day, in the '70s and '80s, GOP Reps. Ed Derwinski of Illinois and Steve Symms of Idaho were frequent Democratic Club interlopers.

"Democrats and Republicans who drink together after work get along a lot better than those who don't!" says Jolly.

Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy didn't want to divulge too much about his boss's visits to the labor boss's hangout other than to say: "I don't think it was the first time the Leader visited friends at The Democratic club, but getting an autograph request in there is probably a first."

Republicans, meanwhile, are grumbling about the Democratic Club's ability to get the exemption, considering that in order to qualify a restaurant must make at least 10 percent of its profits from tobacco sales.

"We're baffled they qualified," a curious member of the Capitol Hill Club's board told the Sleuth.