Kudos to Kwame

The D.C. Council's long summer recess started weeks ago, giving the city's overpaid legislators a head start on all sorts of leisure. In the past, our reps have made the most of their two-month leave, including junkets to Africa, ballgames on their PAC's dime, and, of course, the classic Rehoboth break.

But At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown remains at work, in a way that yesterday yielded huge PR benefits. Brown was conducting an anti-violence forum at the Verizon Center, an event that just happened to precede Beyonce's much-anticipated appearance in the same venue. Well, the pop star, it turned out, had a few spare minutes before taking the stage and dropped in for a visit with the girls at the forum. According to the Washington Post, Beyonce was wearing "silver high heels, skinny jeans and a gray blouse and sporting Barbie-doll hair."

Brown was wearing a big smile. None of his previous stunts—like riding with the recycling trucks, for instance—could challenge this one for publicity. Washington Post put the story on the front of its Metro section, and the Examiner ran a piece as well.