In Capital, Even a Garage Can Start a Political Fight

--House Republican Leader Robert H. Michel is “damned mad”--and it’s not because of any weighty national political issue. It’s politics at home that’s got him up in arms. A Capitol Hill neighborhood group has denied a request from Michel for a zoning variance to build a two-car garage behind his town house. The reason given for the denial was that Michel’s proposed garage was too big. However, members of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, interviewed by the Washington Post, said they thought that the Illinois lawmaker had not shown enough support for the District of Columbia in his congressional votes. “I just might put myself on the House District Committee,” Michel said, referring to the committee that oversees legislation relating to the district. “I’m damned mad. They’re just piqued at my being a public official.” Commissioner Harriett Washington suggested adding to the resolution a statement of protest from the commission concerning what she considered Michel’s lack of political support. “Can you tell me what that possibly has to do with my wanting to build a garage for my own safety?” Michel said. “If we did that on the Hill, the press would crucify us.” Michel said he wants to build the garage in the alley behind his house because he was mugged there six years ago. He also said vandals have set fires and damaged his car.

--Novelist James Clavell’s latest book, “Whirlwind,” was sold in an auction for a record $5 million to William Morrow & Co. and Avon Books. “I’m just delighted,” Clavell, who has written the best-selling books, “Noble House,” “Shogun” and “Taipan,” told the New York Times after the auction of the book’s North American rights. “James is a brand-name author who has written a wonderful book,” said Lawrence Hughes of Hearst Books, which owns Morrow and Avon. The new book, set in and around Iran in 1979, is expected to be published in the fall. The previous record for a nonfiction book was $3 million, paid by Random House to Edmund Morris for the biography of President Reagan.

--In Carcassone, France, an irate taxi driver thought he had the answer to bureaucratic red tape. Incensed that authorities had not sprayed his house for rats, Jean-Claude Sampietro, 40, caught three of the rats, painted them red and turned them loose in the mayor’s office. “You can imagine what the man working alone in that room thought when he saw those rats come running in,” another town employee said. “He was completely frightened.” But they were easy to catch, he said, “because all that red paint made them very unaggressive.” The undaunted Sampietro, who was released from custody without being charged, said that the next time he’ll “return with 50 rats,” unless his house is sprayed.