"Madame Pelosi wasn't happy with the small private jet that comes with the Speaker's job...no, Madame Pelosi was aggravated that this little jet had to stop to refuel, so she ordered a Big Fat 200 seat jet that could get her back to California without stopping!"
I’ve heard about this rumor quite a bit over the last 3 years—and it’s infuriated me, of course. So like any good journalism graduate, I decided to look into the details. For many, this is old news. But I was tired of receiving forwarded emails regarding the topic, so I wanted to create a simple hyperlink that could relay truth.
After Sept. 11, 2001 President Bush decided for security reasons (because the speaker of the House is next in line after the v.p. for presidential succession) that the speaker should travel via military planes. According to the Andrews Air Force Base spokesperson, Pelosi almost always flew the same Air Force C-20B, a 12-seater plane, as her predecessor Dennis Hastert. When Pelosi became speaker, House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood (according to his own account) worried that the small craft would be unable to travel to her home district of San Francisco without stopping to refuel. Livingood, (who was first elected by a Newt Gingrich-led House in ’95), asked the Air Force and the Department of Defense about getting a bigger plane. However, according to the articles I looked up, Pelosi didn’t actually request a larger plane, just one that would allow for nonstop flights (still a little high maintenance, I’ll contend). White House spokesman Tony Snow even denied rumors that Pelosi wasn’t asking for a larger plane. Anyway, just thought I’d pass this along, as I was surprised (but comforted) to hear the truth.
