Quote Originally Posted by birdgirl73
This one makes me laugh a bit. The right is saying she wants a palatial jet and making this an issue of Pelosi's power-hunger. But if you read the various stories and facts about this issue, she and her staff have explained that she simply wants transport that can fly her home to her district in California without having to restop for refueling. Hastert's home district was Illinois, which was reachable non-stop from D.C. in a smaller plane. Bush has stressed security to the top leaders in Congress and the Senate, considering where they fall in the line of succession if anything happens to him and that they're key targets of the crazies, too. He has even agreed that the non-stop issue is an important one for the speaker.

Read the real facts on this. Not just the anti-Pelosi propaganda. If you know anything about cross-country aviation, you know that it takes a fairly big plane to make that trip nonstop.
That said, she can afford to have a quick refueling or save the tax payers some money and work from Washington, DC. I wonder how much each trip costs with a private pilot, jet fuel, and administrative costs. Government officials should be a bastion of frugality.