Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen - Brief Article

Does Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen have a yen to join his TV star wife in show business? Recently he hobnobbed with such Hollywood luminaries as Morgan Freeman, Glenn Close, Sydney Pollack, Donald Sutherland, and Sam Waterston at a party given by the American Film Institute's George Stevens. A few days earlier, Cohen hosted a party of his own to honor the Motion Picture Association president Jack Valenti. And what a swell party k was! There were 350 guests, and the check came to $218 per person. Ninety-four military musicians were flown to Beverly Hills for the event, at a cost of $165,000. The total bill for the taxpayer: $295,000.

Our sources suspect that Cohen has more than good fellowship in mind. Valenti, who is in his late 70s, is expected to retire soon. Cohen is said to be interested in the job, which not only offers one of the largest salaries in Washington but a private movie theater and free access to all the latest flicks.

Did you know that "Madame Butterfly," aka Theresa LePore, the designer of the Palm Beach ballot that confused elderly Jewish Democrats into voting for Pat Buchanan, was once a flight attendant on a private plane owned by Adnan Khashoggi? Khashoggi, you will recall, was the Saudi millionaire who served as a middleman in the Reagan Administration's arms sales to Iran. Our contributing editor and Slate's "Chatterbox" columnist, Timothy Noah, posits that Khashoggi is linked not only to the Iran Contra and Palm Beach scandals, but to Imelda Marcos, Wedtech, BCCI, Donald Trump, and the death of Princess Di. Noah, in his delicious tongue-in-cheek posting on December 4, even succeeds in connecting the Saudi millionaire to Katharine Hepburn's endorsement of Harris Wofford's candidacy for the U.S. Senate a decade ago. At least in that case, Khashoggi was on the right side.

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering is typical of Washingtons top law firms. The average partner made $530,000 last year. To cover all bases, it has Democrats Like Lloyd Cutler and Republicans like C. Boyden Gray. And it is dedicated to Washington's most hallowed ritual: You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. An example was unearthed by The Washington Post's Lloyd Grove, who discovered that the firm had sent out the following letter: "In the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, we are asking some of our area restaurants and shops we frequent to consider donating a gift/prize to give during our holiday party."

Richard Mellon Scaife's dedication to...