The Caucus - 01/01/2019

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Overheard on 3rd

The zen room

The Capitol’s little-known, taxpayer-funded wellness hangout is
a quiet space for lawmakers to meditate and practice mindfulness
» » PAULA KNUDSEN
+ BRAD BUMSTED

A

legislator’s job can
be stressful, no question. So stressful, in
fact, that the Senate
used taxpayer money to install a
yoga and meditation room, The
Caucus has learned.
The chamber spent more than $5,100
creating the room in the basement of the
Capitol building since February 2017,
records provided by the Senate Chief
Clerk’s office show.
Among the features?
Meditation cushions filled with organic buckwheat, which cost $896.
Plants. Lots of plants. It cost more
than $900 just to “service” those plants.
An $83 grow light for those plants.
A large painting, “Summer on the
Lake,” costing $676.
A water garden fountain, costing
$379.
And, lest you have a meditation room
without the requisite soothing sounds
of songbirds and crickets and Tibetan
singing bowls, more than $500 in stereo
equipment and compact discs.
Sounds relaxing, no?
Sorry, it’s off-limits to the folks who
paid for all this stuff, the public.
It’s open only to legislators and Senate and House employees, according to a
Senate spokeswoman,“due to insurance
concerns.”
The room’s existence came as a
surprise to some members and senior
staffers.
“It’s not been made available to us,”
House Chief Clerk David Reddecliff said.
Rep. Dan Moul, chairman of the
Taxpayers’ Caucus, said: “I’ve never
been in their cafeteria, much less their
yoga room. I didn’t even know they had
it (yoga room).”
A Senate employee told The Caucus use of the yoga room is by “word
of mouth.” Another Senate staffer said
it’s “only for certain people;” the staffer
used air quotes around the phrase “certain people.”
“You got to be up here,” she said,
raising an arm to indicate high rank in
the Senate. An employee must then get
special access added to his or her Capitol
entrance ID, sources said.
PROMOTING
‘HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES’
The Senate defends the yoga room
and the use of taxpayer money.
“Several years ago, the Senate health
care claims were determined to be
higher in the areas of stress and mental
health along with other consequential
illness,” Senate Republican spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said in a written statement.

paula knudsen   The caucus photos

The Senate yoga and meditation room includes a water garden fountain, left, cushions filled with organic buckwheat, stereo equipment and many plants. However,
all of the plants but one have been killed by spider mites. The cost for creating the
restricted-access basement room: $5,100.

Caucus. The Senate spent $30,000 for
drapes for the four offices and more than
$13,600 on a kitchen.
“For my office, I have used hand-medowns from home and second-hand
stores,” Phillips-Hill said.
Over in the House, there’s an empty
room in the Irvis Office Building set
aside as a “meditation room.”
“We have not spent a nickel on it,”
Reddecliff said.
There are no mats, meditation CDs
or wall art. A few chairs were moved into
the room, which has a ceiling leak. “To
our knowledge, no one has taken yoga
mats over. It’s a temporary thing,” Reddecliff said, noting it could be designated
for office space.
She said that, after surveying employees, the Senate found “there was
significant interest in weight management, walking programs, stretching and
flexibility, strength training and stress
management to aid in healthier lifestyles and reduced illness.”
“Unused basement space has been
used for years for individuals to provide
instruction in yoga and Pilates,” Kocher’s statement said. “Senate leadership supported expanding the Senatesponsored Wellness Initiative and
approved making improvements to this
unused basement space for use in the
effort to provide simple opportunities
for our staff to improve their health and
well-being.”
Senator-elect Kristin Phillips-Hill,
R-York, questioned the use of taxpayer
money on the room.
“To me it’s not an appropriate use of
taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.
She said she was also bothered by
Senate expenditures of $1.5 million to
renovate new offices for the chief clerk,
as reported in recent weeks by The

Copyright (c) 2019 The Caucus, Edition 01/01/2019
T H 10:03
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SPARE CHANGE IN
A $27.2 MILLION SURPLUS
Citizen activist Gene Stilp, a longtime critic of legislative spending, was
incredulous when he learned taxpayers
paid to outfit the yoga room. “This is the
height of absurdity,” he said. “I can’t believe this. I just can’t believe it. No words
can express my amazement. They’ve
outdone themselves this time.”
Stilp’s pink pig, known as “Pignelope,” became the symbol of protests in
2005 after lawmakers awarded themselves a middle-of-the-night pay raise.
Look for him to break out the prop soon
based on this story.
“It’s not a lot of money, but what
they’re using it for is outrageous,” Stilp
said. “The pig is going to do an investigation.”
It’s not clear who, exactly, uses the
yoga room.
The Senate Chief Clerk’s Office,
which handles public records requests
for the chamber, denied this newspaper’s request for access to a list of

employees and legislators signing into
use the yoga room as well as a class list
of participants for private yoga lessons.
The office said no such legislative
records existed. It also denied a request
for advertising material or brochures
notifying legislative employees and
legislators of the availability of the yoga
room.
Kate Flessner, a spokeswoman for
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph
Scarnati, provided a survey of employees
that indicated the Senate was considering
a “wellness” program. It didn’t specifically mention yoga or meditation; it did ask
about things such as strength training,
stretching and flexibility training.
“We did what our employees thought
they would use,” Flessner said.
Asked if it was a valid expenditure of
tax dollars, Moul, R-Adams County, said
“I don’t think so.”
(Moul also told The Caucus he does
not own yoga pants. “I don’t think I
would look good in them,” he said,
laughing.)
“I would never vote for it,” Moul said.
These types of expenditures, though,
are not specific line items subject to a
public vote by the House or Senate.
An audit released last week for the
2017-18 fiscal year showed the Senate
held a reserve of $27.2 million as of June
30. That is part of a $137.8 million legislative surplus, according to the audit.
As of last week, The Caucus was still
awaiting any email or memo to all employees inviting them to the yoga room.
Meantime, the $900 spent by the
Senate on plant care in the yoga room
hasn’t quite paid off. All that plant
“evaluation,” Miracle-Gro, plant lights
and water?
Only one plant has survived.
The rest died from spider mites,
Kocher said.
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