Just in time for Christmas

Do you have a Senator or Congressman/woman on your holiday gift list? Well you may want to pay attention to this just learned tidbit of information. As you are probably aware, gifts to Congressional Leaders are under ’strict’ guidelines that are most easily summarized as anything $50 or less. This mostly means that John Warner (R-VA), (just an example) won’t be getting that vacation to Aspen on private jets. However, there are always exceptions. It won’t be a “vacation,” it will be “space dispersement over frozen water research.”

Yet still, for most of us, we might just be getting our favorite Pelosi (D-CA) a nice signed copy of Harry Potter. In this case, we’ll say you get it on sale for $17.99, even though retail price is $29.99. It still doesn’t matter because, what they are looking for is fair value of the items.

Here is where it gets tricky, because you’ll write Congresswoman Pelosi a nice card, but what really puts the icing on the cake is the J.K. Rowling signature. To buy a copy on Ebay we are looking at a good $125 minimum up to $700!! However, if you happen to know J.K. personally, and she’ll autograph your gifts, then thankfully, this gift will still satisfy Congressional Gift Giving Guidelines as long as it meets one last criteria.

Ms. Rowling needs to be careful to what she writes in the book. Certainly, you would expect her to sign her name, but if she goes further to include a personal message: ex. “Thank you for supporting [blank] resolution” or even “Keep up the good work for us!” you’re going to be in some trouble. You can not suggest that the gift is in appreciation for any kind of official act.