George Wendt’s mistaken jabs at John Boehner link 'Cheers' and Ohio politics

There was no mistake when the beloved but forlorn accountant Norm Peterson chugged his way into the fictional TV bar Cheers Norm hollered the regulars in unison ranging from mail carrier Cliff Clavin to Mayday Sam Malone the former Major League pitcher-turned barkeep If only former House Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio or late Rep Buz Lukens R-Ohio had been as recognizable to George Wendt the actor who played Norm on the sitcom REMEMBERING REP CHARLIE RANGEL AND A VOICEMAIL I'LL NEVER FORGETWendt died last week at age The portly everyman Willy Loman character Wendt created was one of the bulk iconic in the history of comedic television Wendt s portrayal of Norm earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a primetime series But during Boehner s first race for Congress in Wendt inadvertently manufactured a bizarre and permanent connection to the future Speaker of the House In Lukens represented Ohio s th Congressional District But WSYX-TV in Columbus Ohio secretly recorded Lukens at a McDonald s speaking with the mother of a teenage girl Lukens talked to the woman about getting her a cabinet job He hoped to keep her quiet about his sexual exercises with her daughter Lukens denied any wrongdoing in residents He was charged and later convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor The House Ethics Committee launched an research But Lukens declined to step aside That teed up a three-way Republican primary between Lukens the former congressman who represented the district the late Rep Tom Kindness R-Ohio and Boehner Boehner was a state legislator at the time The disgrace embroiling Lukens created a rare opportunity to head to Washington As strange as it seems now Boehner was the least-known of the three Republican candidates in what turned out to be a brutal primary But Boehner s innate political acumen shone through decades before he would ascend to the Speaker s suite Despite the outrage Lukens remained popular in the district He had served as the congressman decades earlier and returned to the House when Kindness ran unsuccessfully for the Senate against late-Sen John Glenn D-Ohio in So with the Lukens shame Kindness requested his job back And Boehner hoped to capitalize on the opportunity BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT BATTLES TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' WILL FACE IN THE SENATECan you top a name like that Congressman Kindness No wonder it was such a challenge for the upstart future Speaker with the unpronounceable Teutonic surname But Boehner won And even though he felled Lukens and Kindness it was not a done deal that Boehner would win the general electoral process Boehner ran against Democrat Greg Jolivette the mayor of Hamilton Ohio the biggest city in the th Congressional District Jolivette was best known for changing the name of Hamilton to Hamilton in the s He also ran Jolly s Drive-Ins in Hamilton Imagine s hamburger joints where you can order from your car bedecked in orange But we re talking about Cheers here Not Happy Days Wendt was at the height of his popularity during the summer of as Boehner and Jolivette barreled toward a general vote faceoff So Wendt appeared on late-night TV on The Arsenio Hall Show Look him up kids Hall s syndicated show was never going to beat NBC s The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in the ratings But the initiative scored major headlines in when future President Bill Clinton played saxophone on the show in an effort to appeal to a younger demographic which gravitated to Hall rather than Carson Clinton s appearance was a seminal moment in American politics and may have helped him win the balloting Certainly the bulk essential political event on Hall s show Wendt s appearance proved to be the second-most major Jolivette was Wendt s brother-in-law He periodically parachuted into Ohio s th District to campaign for Jolivette and against Boehner So Hall appealed him about Wendt s political involvement and Jolivette Wendt proceeded to essentially libel Boehner on the air Wendt never mentioned Boehner by name But Wendt mixed up Lukens and his sex embarrassment with Boehner On national TV no less The guy he s running against had specific problems a while back reported Wendt referring to Jolivette's opponent but mixing Boehner up with Lukens The guy from the th District had chosen convictions chosen felony or a misdemeanor or something So I think it s time for a change One thing s for sure I know Greg s not going to be a criminal TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' FACES CRUCIAL HOURS AS JOHNSON COURTS FREEDOM CAUCUSHall is an Ohio native But he was apparently not versed in the Lukens embarrassment even though it was a national story and commanded daily headlines He didn t inquire further or correct Wendt After all this was a late-night comedy and variety show Not Meet the Press A publicist for Hall blamed the issue entirely on Wendt saying the host has no control over what guests are going to say Things then turned nasty when Boehner s club put out a announcement We like a lot of viewers are confused about the conversation last night We don t know if they were talking about Congressman Lukens problems or perhaps the theft complaint filed with the Hamilton Ohio Police against Greg Jolivette disclosed the Boehner campaign Jolivette s campaign argued this was an old allegation and it wasn t true They then demanded that Boehner fire Barry Jackson Boehner s campaign manager Jackson called the episode cheap gutter politics Boehner himself pinned the affair of mistaken identity on Wendt He supposed the actor should have been more responsible for what he mentioned on national TV Boehner didn t fire Jackson Jackson worked with Boehner for years and later served as his chief of staff when he became House speaker Wendt s gaffe was not fatal for Boehner Even though there were nearly as several Democrats as Republicans registered in the th District in those days it had elected Republicans for years And Boehner vanquished Jolivette - percent in the general voting process The rest is history for Boehner Fast-forward to in the modern day Boehner took to X after the actor s death The former Speaker explained how Wendt was the brother-in-law of his opponent and went on a late-night TV show and mentioned various tough things Boehner stated that Wendt was confusing me with someone else He called later to apologize and we had a great conversation Raising a glass tonight to the man America will dependably remember as Norm Or as they might say on the show Cheers