Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) office has a 37-page guide on how to staff her, including directions on scheduling weekly massages, picking up grocery store purchases, and “never” booking middle seats on planes, according to an internal memo from her office obtained by the Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast acknowledged that the internal memo may not represent the most recent guidelines for the Senator and may be a couple of years old but “reflects long-running guidelines as well as commitments of the Senator’s that have remained consistent.” The publication did not want to publish the full memo at the risk of exposing its source but claims to “independently corroborate the veracity of the document.”
The 37-page memo that was allegedly intended to guide the Senator’s assistant relates how Sinema, who drinks a lot of water, requires her staff to fetch her a “room temperature” bottle of water, get her groceries, and book a weekly hour-long massage, in addition to fix her internet and book very specific airline seats, since the senator does not like to fly.
The Daily Beast wrote:
The 37-page memo is intended as a guide for aides who set the schedule for and personally staff Sinema during her workdays in Washington and Arizona. And while the document is mostly just revealing of Sinema’s exceptionally strong preferences about things like air travel—preferably not on Southwest Airlines, never book her a seat near a bathroom, and absolutely never a middle seat—Sinema’s standards appear to go right up to the line of what Senate ethics rules allow, if not over.
One section of the staffer guide explains that the senator’s executive assistant must contact Sinema at the beginning of the work week in Washington to “ask if she needs groceries,” and copy both the scheduler and chief of staff on the message to “make sure this is accomplished.” It specifies Sinema will reimburse the assistant through CashApp. The memo also dictates that if the internet in Sinema’s private apartment fails, the executive assistant “should call Verizon to schedule a repair” and ensure a staffer is present to let a technician inside the property.
…
While the memo may not represent the most up-to-date scheduling practices for Sinema, the document reflects long-running guidelines as well as commitments of the Senator’s that have remained consistent. Moreover, the memo is clear that, even if Sinema and her chief of staff never signed off on the document itself, both were to be alerted when the Senator’s executive assistant had procured her groceries—or completed a number of other tasks.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., center, gestures during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 28, 2021, while working on a bipartisan infrastructure bill with, from left, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Though elected as a Democrat, Sinema announced Friday, Dec. 9, 2021, that she has registered as an independent. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The document also explains that staffers should absolutely try to avoid scheduling anything for the Senator outside her regular work hours, which start at 8:45 a.m, unless getting prior approval, and indicated that she is “often not reachable” after 8 p.m. during the week.
The Senator’s spokesperson Hannah Hurley told the Daily Beast, which did not share the full memo with the office, that “the alleged information—sourced from anonymous quotes and a purported document I can’t verify—is not in line with official guidance from Sen. Sinema’s office and does not represent official policies of Sen. Sinema’s office.”
Hurley also said that Sinema’s office “does not require staff to perform personal errands,” which part of the memo alleges.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.