A lobbyist, a reporter and an environmental lawyer enter a tunnel near Capitol Hill. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke — and it would be a lot funnier if the story hadn’t ended in a car crash.
No one was hurt. One ticket was written (not to me), one car was towed and everyone walked away after shaking hands and exchanging information. All that is left now is for the insurance companies to fight it out. (Click on the photo box to the right to see the “other” car involved in the crash.)
But only in the nation’s capital could three stereotypical Washingtonian characters be brought together in something as mundane as a minor car crash. The lobbyist — as you might expect — was driving a black Cadillac Escalade. In true lobbyist fashion, the smartly dressed grey-haired gentleman even jumped from his vehicle and greeted me with a warm handshake after the collision. Easy for him to be pleasant, his shiny caddy was barely scratched.
The environmental lawyer was driving — as you might expect — a Toyota Prius hybrid. It was messed up big time. The entire front end was crushed. He stood outside his car and shook his head in amazement at the extensive damage, marveling that my SUV — the vehicle in the middle — seemed initially to sustain only minor damage. As the police arrived to sort out the mess and divert traffic, I heard him say he was not sure he would “buy another one.”
So the three of us stood — the lobbyist, the reporter and the environmental lawyer — watching thousands of people drive past us in a very noisy tunnel on their way to work in or near the U.S. Congress. Then another very Washington thing started to happen: people who passed by and saw me standing near the accident began to call and message me on my Blackberry wanting to know if I was OK. I heard from Hill sources and a fellow Hill reporter. One guy just called to give me grief.
When I was finally released by the nice police officer, I drove to my office a few blocks away. As I entered the newsroom I heard someone talking about the “jerks” that made them late to work because they crashed in the tunnel and caused the traffic to back up for miles. I decided not to admit — I was one of the jerks.
— Brian
“Weekend Live” hosted by Brian Wilson airs 12 – 2 p.m. ET on Sundays.
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Brian Wilson is a congressional correspondent for FOX News and anchor of the Sunday edition of “Weekend Live.”
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