There's a lot to chew on in this Daily Beast story. Their reporter got handed a copy of the lengthy guide Krysten Sinema's office presents to new staffers. Via the Daily Beast:
Always have a “room temperature” bottle of water on hand for her at all times. Make sure you get her groceries. And book her a weekly, hour-long massage.
These are just a few of the tasks, framed in a dizzying array of do’s and don’ts, that have fallen to the staffers for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), according to an internal memo obtained by The Daily Beast.
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.
You probably already know that staffers are paid for assisting Senators in their official legislative and representational duties, and not to pick up their dry cleaning.
You may also know that Kyrsten Sinema is not the only elected who ignores those rules. So I'll cut her a little slack, but not much, mostly because according to this document, she won't work before 8:45 am or after 8 pm.
The document also makes clear that much of Sinema’s time outside of “regular hours” consists of exercising and training for athletic competition. “She wakes up very early to work out, and sleep is very important to her,” it says. The memo also specifies that on weekends, she “needs a later start to accommodate her training schedule,” which entails scheduling no work obligations earlier than 1 p.m.
Facilitating Sinema’s athletic schedule seems to be a core duty for her official staff. The memo instructs aides to add Sinema’s races to her calendar and to “consult with her” on how much recovery time she will need afterward. “These activities are very important to her and should be protected,” it says.
Remember, she is famously unavailable to her constituents. Seems like her priority is training for her Ironman triathalons, and being a senator is, I dunno, a kind of side hustle. Maybe the voters will give her the time she needs to concentrate on her training.
