Pelosi's Penchant for Fancy Things

Tip of the hat to Politico’s Jake Sherman (also former NEWSWEEK D.C. bureau intern) for some digging that shows Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s affinity for things of fancy. Since June, according to House expenditure reports, Pelosi and her staff have spent tens of thousands of dollars on personal office expenses, including $30,000 on food-and-beverage costs, $2,700 on bottled water, and $3,000 on fresh flowers in her office.

All big numbers, to be sure. But let’s focus for a moment on the flowers, which seem the most expendable item. On its face, three grand sounds like considerable dough, especially for something as disposable as fresh flowers. But is it really much? Pelosi’s Capitol Hill office isn’t your average dentist’s waiting room. She has a massive setup in the Capitol with dozens and dozens of staffers. Broken up over four months, that’s really just about $750 per month, or $25 a day, which is barely the cost of lunch for two in the House cafeteria, if you skip dessert. Your Gaggler has admittedly never planned a wedding, but would venture that some bigger affairs around Washington can burn through three grand's worth of flowers in about two hours. It also merits mentioning, as Pelosi’s office does, that the Speaker holds a lot more ceremonial events than other members.

The open question that remains is why, outside of those events, Pelosi would need regularly replenished daffodils. And even if a relatively paltry sum, it’s still taxpayer money. So if real outrage exists, we’ll go ahead and leave that discussion to Pelosi and the taxpayers.

Still, we’ve lived in this town long enough to know that anything can and will be spun, including Pelosi’s predilection for fresh aromas imported from the tropics. But according to the expenditure records, personal spending isn’t partisan. Sherman points out House Minority Leader John Boehner also racked up almost $25,000 in personal catering costs and Minority Whip Eric Cantor spent about the same on food-and-beverage items since the summer. Is it irresponsible personal spending, or just the cost to do business on behalf of the people? Again, we’ll stay out of this one.