In the past 24 hours I’ve written a lot about a little house at 114 3rd St. SE, here in Washington, D.C., that seems to be in the middle of a big mess. So I thought I’d go down and see it for myself.
The house — co-owned by a former aide to House Appropriations chief Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and a defense contractor who’s won earmarked money from Lewis’ committee — is the registered headquarters for a Political Action Committee run by Lewis’ stepdaughter.
There was no sign outside identifying the building as the Small Biz Tech PAC headquarters, or even a discreet brass plaque. But I checked the address, it was the same as on the deed I found yesterday. So feeling bold, I went up to ring the doorbell and talk to whomever might be available.
Except the state of the doorbell wasn’t what I expected:
So I knocked, and waited. No one answered. I knocked again, loudly, and waited some more. There was no answer. Perhaps everyone was at lunch. Or, perhaps no one was there at all.
It’s a nice house, I’ll grant you that. It seems to be well painted and overall in decent condition:
But the curtains were drawn on most of the windows, and it was impossible to see inside the house. It appeared that most lights were off. The upkeep of the outside property isn’t what I’d call hospitable, and I don’t just mean the doorbell. Look at those bushes in front of the house — those need some serious trimming. Also, here’s the front yard:
The house isn’t just the world headquarters for Julia Willie-Leon’s PAC. The New York Times today picked up the story of the house, reporting that “Friends of [Lewis aide Letitia White, one of the house’s co-owners] say she sometimes stays in the town house and uses it for fund-raisers and events related to her lobbying business.”
Maybe the grass is all gone because she holds so many fundraisers outside?
