Rick Santorum’s re-election defeat has had one previously unexplored consequence: the end of free candy for Senators.
With Democrats back in control of Congress for the first time in years, much is changing in the nation’s capital, including a longtime tradition in the U.S. Senate: the “candy desk.”
For a decade until his defeat last year, Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, stocked the desk with donations from home-state candy makers including Hershey Co. and Just Born Inc., maker of Hot Tamales and Peanut Chews. With Mr. Santorum gone, the desk, which is dipped into by many members, has been turned over to Sen. Craig Thomas, a Republican from Wyoming. But his state is better known for bison than bonbons — and that’s a big problem.
Ethics rules forbid members accepting gifts worth $100 or more a year from a single source. One exception covers items produced in a senator’s home state — so long as they’re used primarily by people other than the senator or his staff. The provision was crafted to allow senators to offer visitors home-grown snacks, such as Florida orange juice or Georgia peanuts.
Yes, Pennsylvania still has its requisite two Senators. You’d think the candy makers could pony up some goodies for them, too, right? But it’s not so simple:
As it happens, relying on Pennsylvania wasn’t an option. Mr. Santorum’s successor, Bob Casey, is a Democrat, and the candy desk has by tradition always been located on the Republican side of the Senate chamber, in a heavily trafficked area near the exit to the elevators. The state’s other senator, Arlen Specter, a Republican, already has a choice seat toward the front.
We’ll see how the Senate adapts to this monumental development.
þ: Taegan Goddard
