What's $2,993 for flowers among friends?

elprincipe

elprincipe

CAGiversary!
Feedback
60 (100%)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/30013.html

Especially when spending someone else's money.

Or do you prefer $265 for donuts?

Maybe $1,561 on bottled water?

Remember, this is only over the last quarter, so the last three months. $1,000 in flowers per month. I hope they were extra-fragrant. To be fair, a few members actually returned money they didn't spend. And credit to the current House leadership (I really don't get to say that often) for making this information public.

EDIT: here is the full document:
http://disbursements.house.gov/2009q3/2009q3-singlevolume.pdf

See what the most outrageous abuse is by your congress-critter!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
They aren't Pelosi's personal flowers, they are flowers billed to Pelosi's office -- which, even the Politico article states, is often expenses for ceremonial events (visiting dignitaries, funerals)...

There are many angles from which you can legitimately criticize Pelosi, this doesn't appear to be one of them.
 
Yes, presidents have had these sort of events go on for years. We are in a recession and we need to be focused on fixing it and not wasting money on these sorts of things. The white house is already a joke so far, and he has not even been in it for a year.
 
Reading this I realized that since I moved last month, I didn't know who my new congress critter was. I went from Sheila Jackson Lee to John Culberson. From a complete scumbag to a complete scumbag that voted against the new GI Bill.

Houston, I love you. I hate your representation.
 
[quote name='Koggit']They aren't Pelosi's personal flowers, they are flowers billed to Pelosi's office -- which, even the Politico article states, is often expenses for ceremonial events (visiting dignitaries, funerals)...

There are many angles from which you can legitimately criticize Pelosi, this doesn't appear to be one of them.[/QUOTE]

I know they are for her office, not personal. It's still $1,000 per month for flowers for her office. It's a waste of taxpayer money. Why are taxpayers on the hook for flowers at Jack Kemp's or anyone else's funeral? Why him and not some poor innocent fool gunned down a few miles from the Capitol in Anacostia?
 
If Nancy Pelosi, or any other politician wants to send flowers, they should be doing it on their own dime.

I want more like these 2:

And Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a fiscal conservative, decided to give about $2,000 in unused office funds back to the government to help reduce the deficit.

...

Some even have money left over to give back to the government. Walz and Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) both returned about $2,500 to cut away at the deficit. Bachus, a fiscal conservative, said he does not take cost-of-living increases in the middle of a congressional term.
Click to expand...
 
It's easy to say "I don't want my tax dollars spent on food and flowers" but who are we to say what is and isn't a worthy expense? Private companies, interested only in profit, often spend far more catering for events that serve no other purpose than PR... are they financially irresponsible idiots too, or is that somehow different?

I don't think any of us know enough about any of this spending to say what sort of effect it has on anything, much less whether or not the spending was dutifully spent. Why argue over what none of us know?
 
[quote name='Koggit']It's easy to say "I don't want my tax dollars spent on food and flowers" but who are we to say what is and isn't a worthy expense? Private companies, interested only in profit, often spend far more catering for events that serve no other purpose than PR... are they financially irresponsible idiots too, or is that somehow different?

I don't think any of us know enough about any of this spending to say what sort of effect it has on anything, much less whether or not the spending was dutifully spent. Why argue over what none of us know?[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying they aren't allowed to spend the money, I'm just saying that is a lot of money. Just get a cheaper caterer. Shop around a little.
 
If the president of some country was visiting your house, would you skimp on the caterer? Do you get the cheapest flowers available when a dear friend dies?

Jack Kemp was a congressman and a former vice presidential candidate. He was a good man that did alot for this country.

It is a recession though and I'm sure there are plenty of other quality caterers and florists that would fall all over themselves to get into the political game.
 
[quote name='Koggit']It's easy to say "I don't want my tax dollars spent on food and flowers" but who are we to say what is and isn't a worthy expense? Private companies, interested only in profit, often spend far more catering for events that serve no other purpose than PR... are they financially irresponsible idiots too, or is that somehow different?

I don't think any of us know enough about any of this spending to say what sort of effect it has on anything, much less whether or not the spending was dutifully spent. Why argue over what none of us know?[/QUOTE]

Why don't you first explain why $1,000 a month for flowers or $90 a month for donuts is a fair use of taxpayer money that is supposed to be used to run your office? Remember, this isn't some private company that is spending its own money, this is your money and mine -- and we are already under a crushing debt burden. It's really more about the mind-set than anything else, that they are kings and can do whatever they want at taxpayer expense with no repercussions.
 
What's $24,617 for catering among friends? ( House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) racked up about $24,617 in catering costs)
 
[quote name='depascal22']If the president of some country was visiting your house, would you skimp on the caterer? Do you get the cheapest flowers available when a dear friend dies?

Jack Kemp was a congressman and a former vice presidential candidate. He was a good man that did alot for this country.

It is a recession though and I'm sure there are plenty of other quality caterers and florists that would fall all over themselves to get into the political game.[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying you need to feed them McDonalds, but the prices do seem to fall on the high side.

Elprincipe, I think the donuts were probably for the staff who work for him, 90 bucks would break out to be about 20-25 bucks a week, which would be about 5 bucks a day based on a five day working week which is around the price a dozen donuts cost.:) I dunno about flower pricing, so I can't really comment on that.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']Why don't you first explain why $1,000 a month for flowers or $90 a month for donuts is a fair use of taxpayer money that is supposed to be used to run your office? Remember, this isn't some private company that is spending its own money, this is your money and mine -- and we are already under a crushing debt burden. It's really more about the mind-set than anything else, that they are kings and can do whatever they want at taxpayer expense with no repercussions.[/QUOTE]

you completely missed my point, cool
 
[quote name='IRHari']What's $24,617 for catering among friends? ( House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) racked up about $24,617 in catering costs)[/QUOTE]

Yep. Plenty more where that came from. These folks all think the federal government is their personal piggy bank.

[quote name='docvinh']Elprincipe, I think the donuts were probably for the staff who work for him, 90 bucks would break out to be about 20-25 bucks a week, which would be about 5 bucks a day based on a five day working week which is around the price a dozen donuts cost.:) I dunno about flower pricing, so I can't really comment on that.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure they were for staff. That's not the point. Like other expenses, buying donuts is not a legitimate office expense. Reps are paid $174,000 a year. If you want to treat your staff, use your own damn money.

[quote name='Koggit']you completely missed my point, cool[/QUOTE]

Sorry, you'll have to be more clear. Were you attempting to turn this into a debate about expenses of private companies? It's really a non sequitur, to be honest, since private companies are an entirely different animal from government employees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top