A Capitol Idea: Congressional Wives Not Barbie Dolls

--”It’s gotten to the point where I simply don’t tell anybody I’m a congressman’s wife, because I don’t like the reaction I get,” Marty Davis says, and she’s out to smash the stereotypes. In a letter to the February issue of Washington Dossier magazine, the wife of Rep. Robert W. Davis (R-Mich.) protested a feature the magazine did on congressional wives. She enclosed a picture of herself working out in a leotard. “We’re not stuck in a 1950s Donna Reed time warp,” she wrote. “There are congressional wives who aren’t cloying Barbie Dolls swathed in Ultrasuede.” Marty Davis, 36, has worked as a television and radio news anchorwoman and wants Dossier magazine to know: “Yes, there are some (congressional wives) that look pretty good, there are some that have brains.” She added: “I’m speaking for myself and I’m speaking for the business-oriented, career-oriented women in our ranks.”

--Walt Disney officials have extended an invitation to President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, to make cameo appearances on their Feb. 18 NBC-TV special celebrating Disneyland’s 30th anniversary. If they accept, the Reagans will be in good company. Also appearing will be Julie Andrews, Marie Osmond, Julian Lennon and the Pointer Sisters. The President has indicated he’ll accept, provided his schedule can be worked out. This role won’t be anything new. Ronald Reagan, the actor, was host of the first Disneyland TV special when the park opened 30 years ago.

--Country music star Willie Nelson has been accused of civil tax fraud by the Internal Revenue Service, which is seeking more than $2.2 million in unpaid taxes and penalties from 1975 through 1978. Nelson, 54, has denied he was guilty of fraud.

--Orthodontists say these days that both adults and children should brace themselves. But if you really want to be in style, get braces for your Cabbage Patch Kid too. Dr. Don Graham, an orthodontist in Lakeside, Calif., has fitted more than 100 dolls with real braces since Christmas. The idea came from one of his assistants, he said, and the parents of his young patients love it. “They’d buy a doll that looks like their child, then they’d come in here to have braces put on for that final signature,” he said. Graham does it free for his patients and charges $5 to non-patients to cover the cost of the braces. He glues real orthodontic braces to the doll’s mouth and holds them in place by punching the two ends of the wire into the corners of the mouth, Graham said. The dolls don’t seem to mind the operation, he tells his young patients. Graham said he hasn’t heard any complaints.