Potty break

The Cleveland Plain Dealer printed a clarification of John Boehner's $2,700 win at the slots.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
One lucky pit stop

John Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, got back to us on how his boss won $2,700 on a slot machine in Michigan, per our earlier Openers item.

It seems Boehner was driving through Michigan on a political trip "and stopped off to use a bathroom at the particular casino rest stop. While there he played a slot machine that hit a return. This was in August of last year."

We're not making this up. And to think of all the time we've intentionally gone to a casino, sat at the slots for an hour and didn't even take a bathroom break, only to win a few lousy nickels. These guys in Congress have all the luck.

- Stephen Koff

TPM Muckraker has gone one better. They have this photo of the "rest stop".

Paul Kiel, writing in the Muckraker,

Boehner Pees at Casino, Comes Back with $2,700

asks,

So what's Boehner talking about?

Well, on his disclosure form, Boehner reported that he'd won the money in Manistique, Michigan. So I called up the Manistique City Hall and asked, if I wanted to pee and gamble in Manistique, where would I go?

Turns out, I'd only have one option: the Kewadin Casino, which is run by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. "Would you call that a rest stop?" I asked. "Well, they have bathrooms in there," replied Rebecca Weber, who works for the city of about 4,000.

Check out the casino yourself.