Charity Begins at Home DC Style

Ria, I'm so glad you mentioned the macho men who bizarrely want to bet on their personal torture endurance capacity (some call it "enhanced interrogation") because I had missed Sean Hannity's generous offer to be waterboarded for charity. If Hannity has a child in a DC private school, I suggest he offer the privilege to mete out his punishment at its fundraising silent auction.

People from all over come to Washington to practice public policy and political journalism because they can do their work at the top of the game here. Many of these smart and competitive people also send their kids to DC independent schools, where they are regularly asked to contribute money for scholarships, endowments and other worthy causes. Educational institutions hold auctions where businesses, alumni and parents of enrolled students donate items of value (such as a catered meal or a weekend at someone's beach house), that other parents bid on.

Like many competitive endeavors, people occasionally try to one up each other at these events. A few years ago questions were raised about the fairness of buying or donating prestigious internships and, recently, other worthy causes have gotten in on the philanthropy by participating in web auctions with items ranging from passes to the Oprah show to invitations for the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

Sidwell Friends School, where the Obama girls are enrolled, holds various fundraising events, capped by an annual spring cocktail party and silent auction. This year the auction was emceed by David Gregory, host of NBC's Meet the Press, but the local affiliate wasn't impressed with the donation of one set of parents. Calling the President and Mrs. Obama "stingy" MSNBC quoted an anonymous source "with ties to Sidwell" complaining that "all the school got from the first family were a couple of old, vandalized magazines." In fact, the First Family contributed signed copies of the Rolling Stone featuring Barack Obama and the issue of Vogue with Michelle on the cover garnering "between $1,500 and $3,200" but the take was disappointing compared to the donated goods from the parents of the last Sidwell student from their address. In 1993, a signed copy of President Clinton's inaugural address went for $30,000 and in 1996 Bill offered to play a round of golf with the winner, bringing in $76,000 for the school.