Rep. Tom Tancredo got a visit from the police last week for smoking a cigar in his Capitol Hill office, according to the newspaper The Hill.
The newspaper reported that the press secretary of Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who has an office adjacent to Tancredo’s, called the House superintendent’s office last Wednesday around 6 p.m. to complain about the smoke and was directed to the Capitol police.
“I called because the smoke was coming through the walls,” Ellison’s press secretary Rick Jauert told the Hill.
It is legal for members of Congress to smoke in their offices. The female officer who stopped by Tancredo’s office after the phone call was just checking the source of the smoke, according to the Hill.
As for Tancredo, he plans to continue his evening puffs on cigars to relax, and may get an interview with the magazine Cigar Aficionado because of the incident, according to his press secretary Carlos Espinosa.
“I think (smoking in your office) is one of the few privileges still offered to members, and Tancredo plans to take advantage of it,” said Espinosa, adding that his boss takes an evening cigar break about once a week.
Tancredo used to be able to smoke in the speaker’s lobby outside of the House floor, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi changed the smoking rules last month, sending congressional smokers to their offices.
Despite the change, Congress still has greater leeway than the rest of Washington D.C., which bans smoking in all office buildings.
