NOVANEWS
washingtonpost.com
By Ed O’Keefe
Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) addressed the Kansas City City Council on Aug. 4, 2011. (Eli Reichman – For The Washington Post) House Republican leaders reprimanded 30 lawmakers last August for antics including drinking and skinny dipping during a fact-finding trip to Israel, according to published reports.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) scolded the lawmakers — many of them freshmen — and senior GOP staffers for a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee. At least one of the lawmakers swam nude, according to a report published Sunday night by Politico. The FBI later inquired about the incident to determine whether there was any impropriety, the report said.
According to the report, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) took off his clothes and jumped into the sea, joining a number of partially-clothed members, some spouses and family members and the staffers, “more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses” told Politico.
Doug Heye, a spokesman for Cantor, confirmed the report’s accuracy.
Top aides to Yoder did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement to Politico, Yoder said that he and his wife joined colleagues for dinner at the Sea of Galilee. “After dinner I followed some Members of Congress in a spontaneous and very brief dive into the sea and regrettably I jumped into the water without a swimsuit,” Yoder said in the statement. “It is my greatest honor to represent the people of Kansas in Congress and [for] any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents, I apologize.”
Elected in 2010, Yoder represents the 3rd Congressional District of Kansas, which encompasses an area west of Kansas City.
The report said that other lawmakers involved in the late-night swim included Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) and his daughter; Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and his wife; and Reps. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.). Quayle faces a competitive primary next week against Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), while Grimm faces a challenging reelection campaign amid ongoing investigations into allegations that followers of a New York City rabbi made illegal campaign contributions to Grimm’s campaign.
The trip, sponsored by American Israel Educational Foundation, ran from Aug. 13 to Aug. 21, 2011, and was focused on “The strategic importance of the relationship with one of our greatest allies,” according to a senior Republican aide who was not authorized to speak on the record on the matter.
The trip included meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.; Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat; Israeli President Shimon Peres; Israeli opposition leader; Dan Shapiro, the U.S. ambassador to Israel; and Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
