Jessica Simpson Refused An Invitation to President Bush's Fundraising Dinner

Yesterday, Jessica Simpson was on Capitol Hill to lobby Congress for Operation Smile, an organization that provides reconstructive surgery to children with facial deformities. But what anyone wanted to know was why she turned down an invitation to attend a Republican fundraiser with Washington's top star, President George Bush.

"We went back and forth and we could never get the details worked out," said her father and manager Joe Simpson. "When it became obvious that it was not just a state dinner, it was more of a fundraising event that is the wrong purpose of why we are here." Still, "we are huge fans of him and of his family, his girls. Jessica loves the heck out of him," Joe Simpson added.

In fact, he said they were still trying to squeeze in a meeting with the chief executive. "We are trying to get in and out," he said. But at the fundraising event, the starlet is being missed. Representative Tom Reynolds, chairman of the GOP campaign committee hosting the fundraiser, said the group had hoped Simpson would attend.

The actress, who refused to comment on the fundraiser, is to head back to New Mexico to resume shooting of a movie, "Employee of the Month," according to her publicist Rob Shuter.

"I know my daughter's a fan. She's a celebrity that was going to come. Now she's a celebrity that is not," Reynolds told reporters. Asked about Simpson's absence from the GOP dinner, House Majority Leader John Boehner told reporters: "You know, I really feel like I got bagged."