Last year, when I signed up to write a book about the C Street Center Inc., the Capitol Hill townhouse church-cum-condo -- dubbed the "Prayboy Mansion" by some bloggers last year for its centrality to the G.O.P. sex scandals of Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and former congressmen Chip Pickering (R-MS), both residents of the church during their affairs, and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) -- I didn't think it would still be in business by the time my book came out.

After all, I reasoned, what kind of congressman -– and it's all men in C...