I guess there is some overriding benefit to being willing to hump the bloated carcass that is Bill Bennett, Scourge of The Nickel Slots:

An organization that promotes sexual abstinence for teens received a federal grant of over a million dollars, twice what it had requested, despite the skepticism Department of Justice staffers had about the group and the fact that it refused to participate in a congressionally mandated study.

So why did the Best Friends Foundation receive the grant from the Justice Department’s juvenile justice office even though dozens of competing organizations were rated higher by the office’s own reviewers? Current and former staffers say it was because of Best Friends’ powerful president and founder, Elayne Bennett.

Not only is Bennett the wife of Bill Bennett, a former Reagan and Bush administration official and conservative political commentator, but she is also personally close to the chief administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), J. Robert Flores.

DOJ staffers were deeply skeptical when Best Friends applied for a grant of around a half-million dollars last summer. For one thing, the organization had backed out of a congressionally mandated study to examine whether or not abstinence programs are effective.

Then there were the DOJ staffers own internal reviews, which placed Best Friends behind dozens of other competing organizations. Out of 104 grants in their category, Best Friends ranked 53rd.

But those other organizations didn’t have Elayne Bennett. Bennett, say current and former DOJ staffers in the OJJDP, often spoke on the phone with Flores and had access to him and his aides that other juvenile organizations ordinarily wouldn’t have.

And then there were the parties. When Best Friends held their pricey society fundraisers, Flores was often in attendance, as were some of his top aides, albeit with permission from the DOJ ethics officers, according to OJJDP staffers.

You may remember the parties:

If you’re in D.C. tomorrow and are game for a night out of great fun for a lifesaving cause, consider the Best Friends Foundation’s 20th Anniversary gala.

Best Friends is Elayne (Mrs. Bill) Bennett’s ministry of hope to schoolkids. With a little love, high expectations, and fun, Best Friends simply changes lives of children who might otherwise fall victim to the soft bigotry of low expectations that remains a fact in many schools and communities of, frankly, all races and income ranges.

The celebration tomorrow night will have the Bennett family’s great taste in music on display (you know a little about this if you listen to Bill’s Morning in America): Entertainment includes the Drifters, Marilyn McCoo & Billy David Jr., and Chuck Brown.

When I say fun, I mean fun.

There are a lot of dinners in D.C. every night. There will be a lot this spring. But there will be none like BFF tomorrow night.

See you there?

The dinner is a fun raiser, but also a (pricey) fundraiser. But Best Friends is offering a special rate for Corner readers: $250 per ticket, with about half of the ticket cost tax deductible.

Further details for ticket ordering here. Just mention K-Lo at National Review Online sent you for the discount

Personally I would be willing to pay full freight to not have sex with K-Lo but, in this economy, who am I to pass up a bargain?