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Heard on the Hill: Parties With a Hefty Price

Food and flowers make HOH happy, and the House’s Office of Interparliamentary Affairs is betting it will make foreigners happy, too!

The Office of Interparliamentary Affairs, which falls under the purview of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), spent $39,479 on food and flowers for three events that took place in March and May.

For the first event, held March 9, the office paid out $660 to Jack H. Lucky Floral Design and $6,173 to Design Cuisine, making the price tag of this shindig a comparatively paltry $6,833.

The following week, on March 17, however, the office made up for its previous scrimping by spending $17,647 on food and $2,652 on flowers from the same companies. (We can all agree that Jack is in fact lucky.) The total cost of food and flowers for this probably amazeballs (St. Patty’s Day?) event? An impressive $20,299.

Finally, on May 24, the office spent $10,805 on Dahan Caterers and $1,542 on lucky Jack’s flowers, making the total buds-and-grub tab $12,347.

The Office of Interparliamentary Affairs was under the direction of Stacee Bako from October 2009 through March 2011, according to her LinkedIn page. The profile indicates that Bako has since left the office for the private sector.

Boehner’s office did not respond to our request for comment, which hurt our feelings, so please send flowers.

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