There was surprisingly little notice in the national media this past month marking the passing of former Congressman Pete McCloskey, Jr. (R) from San Mateo, California. He was always good copy in the 70s as the most liberal of the Republicans in Richard Nixon’s party. And the contrasts were always drawn between him and the more conservative Nixon. A Korean war veteran, McCloskey vocally and consistently opposed the war in Vietnam and unsuccessfully ran against Richard Nixon in the 1968 Republican primary. But he remained in Congress and a gadfly throughout and beyond the Nixon presidency. He was quite popular in the national media and didn’t leave Congress until 1983. His passing should have gotten more attention.

During the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976, those of us in the Washington press circles had tons of events attend. I was then the press secretary for U.S, Senator J. Glenn Beall, Jr. of Maryland, and the D.C. media was a major part of my beat. I was also a member of the Washington Press Club, an organization I chose because it had been originally formed by Eleanor Roosevelt as the “Women’s Press Club,” and members took pride in that distinction from the National Press Club. The club sponsored one of those many events one lovely late spring evening with a  boat trip down the Potomac to Mt. Vernon where we dined in candlelight on George Washington’s back yard. It was a beautiful evening and quite memorable; for several reasons.

At dinner, at a table for four, my wife and I found ourselves seated with none other than Congressman McCoskey and his date, the woman who covered our office for the now long-defunct Washington “Star.” I was well acquainted with his date, but had never met the Congressman until that evening. We chatted amiably about D.C. Gossip, Watergate of course, (Nixon had resigned in disgrace two years earlier), the upcoming election. When he learned that I was Senator Beall’s press secretary he told me how much he liked my boss and how much respect he had for him. Beall was a moderate and a true bi-partisan in most of his voting. He asked me how the re-election effort was going. I told him the truth, we had a fair amount of polling and it didn’t look good. We were running against Paul Sarbanes and Sarbanes wasn’t running against Beall, he was running against Nixon. We were drowning. The Senator came from a long line of Maryland patricians (he was married to a Lee) and refused to get into any form of mud-slinging or negativity. The outcome, even in spring of that year, seemed pretty well determined. McCloskey asked if there was anything he could do to help. I told him I’d pass along the offer to the boss. When we parted ways that night he reminded me of his offer.

A few days later I got a call in my office from the aforementioned “Star” reporter. She asked me about our polling. “What polling?” I asked.

“What you mentioned at diner the other night.”

“I don’t have anything on any polling,” I lied.

She knew I was lying and I knew I was lying and that the last thing I needed was a negative story on my boss and she knew that as well. As far was I was concerned I’d been having a private conversation with a member of Congress and she’d just been along as a date, not a reporter. Much to my relief, she didn’t run the story. That was the only time in my brief career as spokesman that I ever intentionally lied to a reporter. I felt guilty, but justified, and truly wished Congressman McCloskey could have helped. We were swamped that November, lost re-election by several points. I went back to being the guy who asked the press secretaries about polling. Always keeping in mind that conversations over dinner should be held to a different journalistic standard. At least in my book.