Richest Man in Congress Knows His Soda Bargains

Rep. Darrell Issa may be worth at least $357 million , but he apparently knows where to find the cheapest sodas on Capitol Hill.
On Monday evening, Issa came strolling through the House Press Gallery — sporting a goatee, HOH noticed — and revealed that, despite his Scrooge McDuck-level of wealth, he keeps it real in at least one regard.
When the California Republican walked in, he announced to a room nearly empty of reporters that he, “wanted to see where the action is.”
“Doesn’t look like there’s any here,” Issa added correctly. (That changed later .)
As he made his way through the gallery, he made another astute point, an observation many reporters have kept as a closely guarded Capitol Hill secret.
He reported to a staffer trailing behind him that this particular gallery “is where the lowest cost Diet Cokes are.”
The House Daily Press Gallery, unlike its Senate counterpart or any place in the Capitol complex, offers cans of soda for 50 cents. HOH can report with authority that it’s the cheapest place on the Hill to buy a soda. And Issa, despite possessing seven assets that are worth at least $50 million each , seems to know it.
We like to think Issa built his multimillion-dollar empire on soda cost savings, not by manufacturing car alarms, though we know it was the latter. In HOH’s ever-hopeful mind, maybe the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Maybe we’re all destined for the top 0.01 percent — if only we can stop wasting money on coffee or the bottles of Diet Mountain Dew down at the House and Senate carry-outs.
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