Council Staffer’s Unorthodox Courtship Method Detailed

LL is not in the habit of reading the “Vows” section of the Sunday New York Times, so it is with some embarrassment that he only learned of this week’s edition yesterday.

Why is LL embarrassed? It might contain the juiciest piece of Wilson Building reporting in years: The featured groom, Jonathon Kass, is a staffer for Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham’s public works and environment committee.

The article describes Kass’ patient approach to romancing his eventual wife, Sarah Lucas—West Wing viewings turning into eight months of dates without as much as a smooch. Later came 17 months together in Africa. But no ring was immediately forthcoming.

As further proof of Kass’ deliberative ways, reporter Louise Rafkin offers this anecdote: “In the Washington group house where he and [a friend] lived in spring 2002, Mr. Kass slept in a sleeping bag for a month because he feared a rash purchase might preclude a full analysis of whether and for how long he would settle there.”

Anyway, happy ending: Lucas and Kass married on May 31 in California.

But the couple’s happiness has meant little to the hyper-empowered women over at Jezebel. On Monday, Kass (and the article generally, for its “what a catch!” theme) came in for a rather vicious line of commentary from blogger Moe Tkacik (”excruciating”) and the Jezebel commentariat. (Sample comment: “She’s beautiful - absolutely out of his league, AND he’s a turd! Poor girl.”)

LL feels he needs to stick up for the guy. 1. On the occasions LL has spoken to him, Kass has struck him as a sharp, knowledgeable guy. 2. Dunno where they get “out of his league”—he’s not a bad-looking dude, to LL’s straight-man eyes, anyway. 3. So what if the guy’s “[p]assionate about transportation policy”? Aren’t you ladies always prattling on about how much you love guys with passions? What’s so wrong with transportation policy, huh?

Also of note: Kass’ familiarity with long-term “excruciating” ordeals with uncertain prospects may have helped him in his professional career. Recently, he’s been an adviser to Graham on reopening Klingle Road.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Jim Graham, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.