John Boehner’s games during the “Fiscal Cliff” negotiations bring up thoughts of one Lisbeth Lyons. Ms. Lyons gained fame in late 2010 for being so close to GOP Speaker Of The House John Boehner that the National Enquirer ran a story claiming they were having an affair. That’s news that would break the heart of Debbie Boehner, the Speaker’s wife of 37 years. What made the story catch fire was the initial words of “no comment” by both The Speaker and The Lobbyist, rather than an outright “no,” which Lisbeth later did give.
Later.
There has been a lot of smoke, and no fire, associated with this story. This is part of what was written in this space in 2010:
In his investigation, Stark went so far as to ask John Boehner on camera at his “Pledge to America” event, and to Boehner’s face, if Lisbeth Lyons was his, as Stark put it, “girlfriend.” Rep. Boehner kept walking by Stark without stopping to even look at him, let alone saying “no.”
During that period of reporting on the “Boehner mistress” issue, many were waiting for what was to be an “explosive” expose on this by The New York Times. It never came forward. In fact, since Stark’s initial media blast that was fairly-well picked up, there’s been nothing new to add to the story. Things, it seems, are scarily silent. The only update was Stark’s blog that Mike Pence wasn’t his source for the rumor. Other than that, nothing. Zero. Zilch.
Meanwhile, this blogger learned that Lyons, who’s Vice President, Government Affairs for the Printing Industries of America, is a powerful and well-connected Washington DC player. Regardless of her connections to Boehner, her assent to prominence should be a welcome study for anyone who wants to break into the ranks of Washington’s Power Elite. To this blogger, the alleged relationship looks more like one where Boehner may be too close to a lobbyist, ala John McCain and Vicki Iseman. But there’s nothing as of this writing that allows for comfortable expansion on that assertion.
And to this day, there has been no New York Times smoking gun, or even a smoking cigar. Meanwhile , Lyons has continued to work as a high-profile lobbyist heading PrintPac, the political action committee for the printing industry, and who has been scandal-free since that time.
This year, Lions personally gave $4,250 to GOP candidates for office – nothing (zero) for Democrats. And of that, she gave $2,750 to Tom Latham in his bitter Iowa race against Leonard Boswell, a contest Tom won. By contrast, Lisbeth gave only $250 to Mitt Romney’s race against President Obama, but then gave $500 to his challenger, former Utah Governor and Obama’s Ambassador To China John Huntsman. In her role as head of PrintPac, Ms. Lyons dolled out a lot more money, and mostly in $1,000 segments, to various conservative candidates.
When she’s not throwing money around, or attending conferences for the paper industry where she gives her view of the political winds and how they impact companies, Lisbeth is tending to the needs of her dog Pablo and working out – a lot. She’s a noted advocate of something called “Spinlates” – a combination of spinning and pilates. Here’s what she said about the gym class she took in Washington D.C.:
“Spinlates solves the problem – how do I get the benefits of Pilates and still fit in my cardio? It’s a great 2 in 1 exercise and Timea leads the class with a nice combination of cycling energy and Pilates Zen.“ – Lisbeth Lyons
In January of 2012, Lisbeth praised President Obama’s State Of The Union address and his vision to revive manufacturing in America – an issue that strikes to the heart of making paper.
All that, and no info on who she’s dating or has been seen with, other than John Boehner. But me thinks something will turn up.
Stay tuned.