WASHINGTON INSIGHT

AGED TO PERFECTION: When California Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) was in Mexico recently drumming up trade, he brought as a gesture of goodwill a couple of bottles of California’s prize Mondavi wine. He gave those to some of President Ernesto Zedillo’s top lieutenants and reserved for Zedillo a sculpture of an immigrant harvesting grapes in a field, a lovely work by a Central California artist. Zedillo received the statue graciously, and then asked--our translation is rough here, but you’ll get the idea--”Um, could I have a bottle of wine like those other guys?” Bustamante, delighted that the vintage grape--the hallmark of California’s bountiful agriculture industry--was helping to pop the cork on free trade, called the Napa winery, which promptly sent over a bottle of cabernet sauvignon--1982 reserve, no less. The president was delighted. No translation required.

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JUSTICE FOR JUDGES: Since 1989, members of Congress have harnessed their financial status to that of federal judges: When the legislative branch gets a pay raise, so does the judiciary. But it’s an uncomfortable arrangement at best. Congress, under political pressure to tighten its collective belt, has routinely denied itself cost-of-living raises--depriving the judges in the process. In September, Congress voted itself a raise--but the House didn’t pass a technical companion measure needed to lift the freeze on judges. One senior judge, after being briefed on the problem, accepted the explanation: “It was sheer incompetence.” A House aide said lawmakers wanted to see what happened to their own raise first. But last week the House and Senate voted to give judges their none-too-hefty 2.3% raise.

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PAY OR PENSION? The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste wants Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar)--who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance violations this summer--to resign before January. The 600,000-member lobbying group complains not that Kim’s criminal convictions make him unfit to serve, but that he doesn’t deserve to collect a congressional pension, for which he becomes eligible in January. The group’s president, Thomas A. Schatz, lauding Kim’s anti-waste voting record, says Kim “would certainly agree that taxpayers should not pick up the pension of a convicted criminal.” No deal, says Kim spokesman P.J. O’Neil, adding that the congressman is planning to run for reelection. The cost of a special election to replace Kim--about $210,000--would quickly eat up any savings from his $11,000-a-year pension, O’Neil says. (Schatz says it’s $14,000.)

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SAVING FACE: Although Madeleine Albright likes to affect an “aw shucks” attitude in discussing her status as the nation’s first female secretary of State, it’s clear she likes the topic because she brings it up so often. In a recent speech, she said: “I have also been asked about, you know, what are the differences between a male and female secretary of State, and my quickest answer is ‘makeup.’ ” Well, sure, Madame Secretary, but did you ever see one of your male predecessors on his way to a television interview?

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ON HIS TOES: Fallen Clinton advisor Dick Morris has apparently not forgotten the sex scandal that prompted him to resign last autumn. Recently deposed by House lawyers investigating campaign fund-raising abuses, Morris recited his address and telephone number for the record--information that Morris’ attorney, David Lenefsky, argued should be kept private when the deposition was released on the Internet. “Particularly if it is in the section on cybersex,” Morris then quipped.