Democrat Saves Republican in Nonpartisan Maneuver

--Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) put partisan politics aside when he stepped off a Capitol elevator and found his colleague, Sen. Chic Hecht (R-Nev.), staggering in the corridor, choking on a piece of food. Kerry dislodged the food after applying the Heimlich maneuver four times. Hecht, who had been dining at the Senate Republicans’ weekly luncheon, said he had taken a bite of fruit salad when a small apple slice caught in his throat. He went out to the hall, gasping for air. “It was clear to me I couldn’t breathe,” the lawmaker said. “It’s a sensation that I never had before . . . . It’s a horrible sensation.” Kerry is chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, which has targeted Hecht for defeat in the November elections. As a grateful Hecht repeatedly thanked his rescuer, Kerry grinned and asked: “Now, can I go back again to being partisan?”

--The rookie mayor came bearing a palm tree and compliments for the seasoned pro from New York during a visit to the Big Apple aimed at luring potential convention-goers to sunny California. Singer-songwriter Sonny Bono, who has been mayor of Palm Springs since April, told Edward I. Koch: “I wanted to meet the biggest hip-shooter in the country.” The outspoken Koch responded: “Don’t you find that you’re happier . . . when you’re telling people exactly what you think?” Koch, who is up for a fourth term next year, asked Bono if he’d consulted with another entertainer-turned-politician, Clint Eastwood, who was chief executive of Carmel, Calif., for two years. “I called him,” Bono answered, “and he said have a lot of coffees and meet people.”

--The year was 1988. A federal judge in Pittsburgh told an attorney he doesn’t allow anyone to “use that Ms.” in his courtroom, and ordered her to use her married name or go to jail. Senior U.S. District Judge Hubert I. Teitelbaum told attorney Barbara Wolvovitz, who is married to University of Pittsburgh law professor Jules Lobel, that she must go by the name Mrs. Lobel in his courtroom. When her co-counsel John Pushinsky protested, Teitelbaum found him in contempt of court for “officious intermeddling” and gave him a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail. Teitelbaum, presiding over a race discrimination suit, denied Wolvovitz’s request for a mistrial, and when she again refused to be called Mrs. Lobel, he responded: “What if I call you sweetie?” Wolvovitz said she would not decide whether to file a complaint against the judge until after the jury returns its verdict. Teitelbaum, 73, was appointed to the federal bench by President Nixon in 1970.