These are tough times for C St.
The usually low-profile Capitol Hill-based Christian dorm and bible study group has been at the center of a media frenzy after three separate Republicans with ties to C St admitted to extra-marital affairs in recent weeks. And now, things have gotten so bad that one Christian lawmaker is treating the issue like a state secret, refusing even to say whether he lives there.
A North Carolina paper asked a spokesman for Rep. Heath Shuler, a North Carolina Democrat, whether the congressman lives in the house — which is associated with the secretive Christian group The Fellowship — and got the following reply:
“Sorry about this one, but because of privacy issues, we’re not giving out any information about the congressman’s living arrangements.
The Christian magazine Worldmag.com had reported that Shuler does currently live there, along with Sens. Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Reps. Zach Wamp, Mike Doyle, and Bart Stupak.
Given the number of adulterers tied to C Street — and the growing sense that place functions as a forum for lawmakers to confess their hanky-panky to peers who’ll help them cover it up — it’s hard to blame Shuler for wanting to keep people in the dark on the issue.
But when conservative Christian members of Congress won’t even admit to being associated with a bible fellowship, you know things have reached quite a pass.
Late Update: Now another lawmaker is distancing himself from C Street. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) says he just “rent[s] a room” at the house, but doesn’t know what goes on there. “I do not belong to any such group. I don’t know what you are talking about. … I have no affiliation,” he adds.