Politicians and celebrities distracted emergency responders in Louisiana, according to an excerpt of a report by House investigators. But good luck identifying in-the-way politicos.

The report names stars of the big and small screens, but no one in Congress is similarly identified.

“Several elected officials from the state and national levels showed up in the EOC [emergency operations center]. While they just wanted to see what was going on and were trying to help, their presence distracted the EOC personnel,” says a report by the Republican-dominated House select panel, scheduled for release Wednesday. “There were similar visits by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Sean Penn. Most visits by elected officials and celebrities had large media crews covering them, further distracting the EOC personnel from their more urgent tasks.”

There was no way to tell whether “elected officials” meant President Bush or lower-level office-holders such as members of Congress.

But Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., said she had good reason to be at the scene. “Visit? I didn’t visit. I was working.

“From my perspective, so were the others,” she said. “People were happy to have us.”

And from Chicago: “The Oprah Winfrey Show apologizes if in any way Oprah or her production staff distracted emergency workers from their tasks. . . . In response to our coverage, more than $19 million has been raised toward rebuilding the lives of Americans directly affected by this disaster.”