If Capitol Hill ever is sleepy, it is during the annual August recess, when the men and women of Congress are far away, skeleton-crew staffers wear shorts and flip-flops, and lunches off campus at Tortilla Coast and Bullfeathers are consumed at much leisure.

Not so for everyone last week. Even though Congress was out of session, small bands of Republicans commandeered the House floor each day for speeches to protest inaction on high energy prices.

The lights in the chamber were dimmed, and C-SPAN wasn't filming because the cable network is not allowed to broadcast the floor when the House is out of session. So the Republicans' audience consisted of their own staffers, a handful of reporters, and tourists who were given a rare opportunity to fill the floor seats.

Their target was Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who they accused of callousness for allowing the Democrat-led House to leave for a five-week recess without passing an energy bill to address $4-a-gallon gasoline.

They challenged Pelosi to call the House back into session and vote on bills expanding offshore oil drilling, the GOP-favored response. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., called it a "shadow debate."

Nevada Republicans Dean Heller and Jon Porter returned to Washington last week after party leaders sent out a memo urging, "Let's keep the floor protest going!"

In his presentation, Heller charged that energy prices were hurting rural ranchers. Porter warned that "the lights are starting to dim" in Las Vegas.

Democrats said the GOP's summer session was no more than an election-year sideshow.

"I want to work across the aisle, but Jon apparently believes that participating in a partisan stunt is enough to fix the problem," said Porter's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Dina Titus. "I don't think it will solve any problem."

MoveOn.org demonstrated Thursday outside Porter's office in Henderson and ran radio ads in Las Vegas inquiring, "Why is Jon Porter grandstanding in Congress instead of working toward real solutions to high gas prices?"

"When they mobilize MoveOn.org, that means (Democrats) are worried," Porter responded.

Back on Capitol Hill, Republicans did not monopolize the theatrics.

Taking their cue from reports that Republican leader John Boehner had been back home in Ohio playing golf during the week, eight Democratic interns and staffers chanted near the Capitol steps on Friday carrying posters and dressed in classic golf gear.

The men: plaid pants, sweater vests and caps. The women: pink polos.

"We are the party, the Golf and Oil Party!" they chanted.

A tourist walked by. "You suck," she yelled, turning her thumbs down.

"We're hurting; they're golfing," one of the protesters yelled back.

SPENDING MONEY

Sen. John Ensign last week was called to further explain his decision to keep $28,000 in donations from powerful Sen. Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who was indicted on felonies late last month.

Stevens was accused on seven counts of not disclosing thousands of dollars of gifts and free home renovations from an Alaska oil services company.

Though 11 Republican senators were divesting Stevens' donations, Ensign's spokesman said the Nevadan considered the $28,000 "already spent" because the money came into his campaign before his 2006 re-election race.

Ensign received $10,000 in 2005 from Steven's PAC, $5,000 in 2000, $8,000 in 1999 and $5,000 in 1998, according CQ Moneyline.

But several Review-Journal readers pointed out that Ensign reacted differently a few years ago regarding donations from an associate of Jack Abramoff.

According to a July 2006 report, Ensign on Oct. 1, 2005, forwarded $8,648.50 to the Nevada Patriot Fund, the equivalent of donations he received from the disgraced lobbyist Abramoff, various Abramoff clients and Abramoff associate David Safavian.

Safavian was accused at the time of felony counts of obstructing justice and deceiving federal officials in an Abramoff-related case. Safavian was eventually convicted, but not until June 2006.

Safavian had given Ensign $4,372 from May 1997 to November 1999, according to the Federal Election Commission. Safavian's wife gave $300 to Ensign in March 1998.

Ensign at first said the Safavian money already had been spent during his 2000 election but a month later changed his mind and gave it to charity.

"We take money from a lot of different people, and I don't know the background of all of them. You just try to keep your own integrity intact." Ensign told the Review-Journal at the time.

Asked why Ensign would keep Stevens' money while he gave back Safavian's donations under a similar circumstance, spokesman Tory Mazzola went and checked and responded in an e-mail.

"Safavian and Abramoff were guilty of serious crimes," Mazzola said. "At this point, Sen. Ted Stevens is accused of filing an inaccurate financial disclosure. If that develops into something more, we will reconsider our options."

Footnote on Safavian: His conviction was overturned in June.

ELECTION DAY

You might have noticed there's an election coming up. But few of the contests, especially in Southern Nevada, merit a lot of interest.

There is Assembly District 21, where Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Henderson, is fending off a challenge from Jon Ozark, who's championing the cause of the many Republicans who find Beers insufficiently conservative.

In campaign finance reports released last week, Ozark showed fundraising of nearly $25,000 to Beers' less than $9,000. (Beers had spent nearly $11,000.) But Ozark's fundraising included a $10,000 personal loan to his campaign.

Meanwhile, the Democrat hoping to capitalize on such turmoil in November, Ellen Spiegel, raised $28,000.

There's Assembly District 4, where Assemblywoman Francis Allen, R-Las Vegas, faces three opponents -- not counting herself, as her clashes with a florist, a soon-to-be-ex-husband and the police have proven the biggest obstacle.

After an article last week mentioned an Allen mailer to constituents about her "marital difficulties," the husband, Paul Maineri, got in touch. He said he knew she was filing for divorce but didn't know she had advertised the situation in a mass mailing.

"I ask to be left alone to move on with my life as I was already doing prior to this attempted garnering of votes by her malicious defamation of my character," Maineri said.

And there's Assembly District 2, where a shadowy group apparently backed by former candidate Mark DeStefano has been filling mailboxes with fliers bashing one of the three Republican candidates, former Clark County Republican Chairman John Hambrick.

Another in the stream of anti-Hambrick mailers last week urged voters, "You can bury the political career of John 'Do Nothing' Hambrick," with images of tombstones. The flier attempts to tie Hambrick to such illustrious GOP former officials as former County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald (indicted), County Recorder Fran Deane (charged with fraud) and County Commissioner Lance Malone (doing time in federal prison).

Hambrick fired back with a mailer of his own that claims the attacks are the work of rival candidate Jack Surpure, although Surpure's campaign and DeStefano have said they are not. Hambrick said he based that claim on information he received that Surpure's campaign manager once worked for DeStefano.

The campaign manager, Julie Walburn, said that she worked for DeStefano four years ago when he ran for university regent and that the Surpure campaign had nothing to do with the mailers, which she called "horrifying."

The Hambrick mailer also includes the Indian-born Surpure's given name, Jagannath, crossed out and replaced by "Jack." Hambrick said it wasn't intended as a racial implication, but he didn't say why that was included.

Hambrick notes in the flier, "You may have received several deceitful mailers saying I did nothing about things that were completely out of my control. Below is a list of some other things I did absolutely nothing about:

"In 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977, the Vikings lost the Super Bowl ... And John did nothing about it.

"In 2006, the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup ... And John did nothing about it.

"In 2005, Tony Stewart won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series ... And John did nothing about it.

"Every day the sun rises ... And John does nothing about it."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.