Admissions Standards?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Senator John Cornyn is demanding to know how the Department of Homeland Security could allow former Taliban spokesman and current Ivy League undergraduate Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi into the U.S.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Texas Republican notes that Congress passed the Real ID act last year to keep any present or former representative of a terrorist organization from entering the country and asks Chertoff, "what steps [DHS] is taking to determine whether Mr. Hashemi was properly admitted and whether the Department...will seek to deport Mr. Hashemi under one of the terror-related grounds of removal."

Homeland Security says they've received the letter and will respond to the senator once it's been fully considered.

Picture Problem

Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner's camp isn't happy with the Michael Bloomberg has suspended New York City's prison imam for two weeks after learning the Muslim leader had publicly called President Bush a terrorist — and insisted that Muslims were being tortured in Manhattan jails. But Bloomberg never mentioned Umar Abdul-Jalil's comments in announcing the suspension — instead, he says he disciplined him for failing to tell his audience that he wasn't speaking for the city when he made those remarks.

As for the man and his views, Bloomberg called Abdul-Jalil, "a conscientious and dedicated employee" who "preaches a message of tolerance, forbearance, peace and respect to the law."

Infrequent Voter

The latest potential Republican challenger to Hillary Clinton in the New York Senate race now concedes that she failed to vote in several recent elections — and what's more she's registered to vote in two different locations. KT McFarland, a Reagan-era Pentagon official, made no excuses for her failure to show up at the polls, saying, "The bottom line is that I should have voted in these elections and I didn't."

Meanwhile, aides said McFarland was registered to vote from her Manhattan address as well as from her home on Long Island — which could constitute a crime under state law. But McFarland is unlikely to be prosecuted... since she never voted in the same election more than once.

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.