Politico
November 30, 2009
One of the ways congressional staffers mark the holidays is with California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s holiday card. How zany is it this year?
Sanchez isn’t saying, but it’s due to drop Tuesday, when her website unveils it.
“I don’t know why people get so mean about them,” she says of her cards. “Do you think you can’t be serious just because you’re on a motorcycle?” referring to last year’s card.
As for her December, she’s going to be one busy gal. “Well, one of the problems that we have [in Congress] is that we don’t know whether we really are going to have a health care bill to try to vote on from the House side again,” Sanchez points out. “We’ve been told we could be working here until the 22nd or 24th. It kind of puts things in flux.”
How does she decide which Washington holiday events to go to? “It depends on how tired I am! You’ll have four or five on your list. You take the last vote, and you’re going home at that point. You’re beat! But one of your colleagues says, ‘Come on, we’re going over to the firefighters [party].’ That’s how you decide.”
Does she plan on buying any gifts for her colleagues? “No. But [Arkansas Democratic] Rep. Vic Snyder is a good friend of mine. He just had triplets, right? So I organized this whole, ‘Donate toward getting him some nanny time!’” she said. “I’ll get a Starbucks card for one of my friends that walks with me in the morning because I know he goes to Starbucks every morning.”
For her, the worst is “when someone gives me a gift, and I didn’t get them anything.” But she’s prepared: “I’ve gotten little boxes of See’s [Candies] or something and have them all wrapped up, so I can say, ‘Oh yeah, I have a little something for you!’”
And New Year’s? “This year coming up in January is my 50th birthday, so we’re actually planning a big, big party.”
One thing’s for sure, the congresswoman says of her holiday break: “I’m definitely not going to be on a deserted island,” she says, referring to Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake’s recent survivor-man trip. “I’m definitely not eating a tarantula or anything like that.”
