Bud McFarlane leaves Georgetown for a Watergate condo; Karl Rove’s personal attorney, Robert Luskin, sells across the street.

By Stacey Grazier Pfarr

The Watergate West apartment bought by Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane boasts expansive Potomac views.

THE DISTRICT
Robert C. “Bud” McFarlane and his wife, Jonda, sold 3414 Prospect Street NW in Georgetown for $1,650,000 to Mitra Farahbaksh and Arne Peterson. Mr. McFarlane was President Ronald Reagan’s national security advisor from 1983-1985 and was a major figure in the Iran-Contra Affair. The listing agent was Nancy Taylor Bubes of Washington Fine Properties and the buyer’s agent was Kenneth Johnson of DCRealestate.com. The McFarlanes’ new digs are at Watergate West, where they bought 2700 Virginia Avenue NW Apt. #901 from Peter and Mary McCarthy for $1,450,000. Mr. McCarthy is a former assistant secretary of the treasury for management. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom unit has a wrap-around balcony with unobstructed panoramic views of the Potomac. Listing agents for the Watergate apartment were Washington Fine Properties’ William FX Moody and Robert Hryniewicki. The buyers agent was WFP’s Nancy Taylor Bubes.

Robert Luskin sold 3415 Prospect Street NW in Georgetown for $1,338,000 to Thomas and Gertraud Hechl. Luskin is the personal attorney for former White House senior advisor and chief political strategist Karl Rove, and also a partner at the Patton Boggs Law Firm. Mr. Hechl is a partner at the DLA Piper law firm. The 2,568-square-foot Federal style frame row home, built in 1900, is known as the Garrity-Kerman House. The three-bedroom property includes a third floor rooftop room, wine cellar, and garden with pond. Washington Fine Properties’ Mary White and Carrol Thornton-Chapin were listing agents while William FX Moody and Robert Hryniewicki were buyers’ agents.

Kevin J. Martin bought 3020 Cambridge Place NW for $1.5 million from Jonathan Blake and Elizabeth Shriver. Mr. Martin was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission during the George W. Bush administration and he also served as counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney. He is currently a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington. The five-bedroom, three-bath Georgetown townhouse was built in 1900.

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The press gets a new home and kicks off the gala season

By Janet Donovan

Chris and Kathleen Matthews, Joe Scarborough, and Mitt Romney

Matters of Opinion

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Atlanta-Journal Constitution’s editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich, and Talking Points Memo blogger Josh Marshall had plenty of reasons to celebrate at The Week’s Fifth Annual Opinion Awards dinner at the Four Seasons on April 8th: they won.

The elegant and intimate evening raised eyebrows when panelists took center stage, and the discussion turned into a testosterone versus estrogen contest. This was led by Time.com’s Anna Marie Cox, who questioned why, when we have an African American and a woman running for President, the panel of experts were all white men? Fair question.

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Congressman Culberson

A new form of power player has emerged in the past year as social technologies like WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter are increasingly used to expand professional networks, drum up support for issues, and build personal brands. Here are some of the hottest – and coolest – nouveau Washington geeks.

By Mark Drapeau

The Newcomer – Macon Phillips, White House Director of New Media.
From the campaign to the presidency, Phillips is the brain behind much of President Obama’s internet operation, including the savvy WhiteHouse.gov site.

The Wonder Woman – Casey Coleman, Chief Information Officer of the General Services Administration.
In charge of a $500 million portfolio, this master of the space where tech meets business is powerful. But more importantly, as GSA negotiates government-wide agreements with entities like Facebook, Vimeo, and Flickr, Coleman has been using an official government blog and her personal Twitter account to network and spread the word about GSA’s role in the tech world.

The Guy You Don’t Know – Charles (Jack) Holt, Director of Emerging Technologies, Defense Media Activity.
The Defense Department’s new media team, led by Jack Holt, is surging ahead of the private sector: networking military bloggers with military commanders, developing online radio and video programming for BlogTalkRadio and YouTube, and educating government execs about emerging technologies.

The Cloutformer – Hon. John Culberson, (R-TX)
Mr. Culberson is still a relatively junior congressman on the Hill, but since adopting a strategy of openness, transparency, and participation with citizens, his clout has grown. Culberson is simply the best elected official using social media like Twitter and Qik to communicate with other members, his constituents, and thought leaders, which has increased both his profile and, perhaps, his ability to get things done.

The Still-Relevant Campaigners – Karl Rove, Former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush; Joe Trippi, Former Presidential Campaign Manager for Gov. Howard Dean.
They still appear on television and write formal op-eds, but these two politicos have also leveraged blogging and microsharing technology to share views in other formats and have drawn in a whole new audience of fans – and detractors – for their messages, helping them stay relevant ‘behind the scenes.”

In a city where influence is everything, these one hundred individuals rise to the top. Some are wealthy, but many are not. They represent a wide variety of professional fields, from faith to finance; but they all share two common traits: They work outside the federal government and hold sway inside the Beltway.

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Power, above all, is influence. New York Fashion week bloggers tell Americans with authority that this is the year of the [insert arbitrary skirt length], and America purchases accordingly. The Washington socialite-hostess gathers the ripe fruit of political, economic, and cultural orchards and serves it up as one fabulous cherry bombe at a charity fundraiser or a private soiree with Cabinet secretaries and other major political players. Two men shake hands in the U.S. Senate and a bill passes – or doesn’t. The influence to effect change, be it in the minds or actions of one’s fellow man, is simultaneously the most ephemeral quantity (how does one qualify or rate it?) and the biggest driving force on our planet.

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Heads turn when they enter the room.

By Ann Geracimos

Photograph by Fred J. Maroon. M. Maroon's son, Marc, has recently launched an initiative to offer digital prints from his father's Washington, D.C. Collection, entitled "Poetic Washington" to local charity events. For more informatino, go to fredmaroon.com.

Power is as power does. It’s a flexible force in this town. No wonder we denizens often take refuge in lists, a comfort zone of sorts in a world where the reality is constantly shifting.

Lists turn up everywhere. The form suits a place that thrives on hierarchy – on knowing just who owns a predetermined political status. The government’s plum list of political jobs is the apotheosis of this. Keeping everyone happy: giving them a title, an objective count of who’s in and who’s out. And why not? That is small comfort in the face of the conditions of daily life that threaten to overwhelm one’s sense of identity.

There is comfort in knowing about rank because it makes it easier to navigate the terrain. After all, who is responsible for the saying that rules (rank and reputation) are made to be broken? It gives a lift to the spirit to know the Calvinist ideal of predestination is not entirely dominant.

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