Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren may tout herself as the candidate of the poorest 99 percent, but someone on her campaign likes staying at hotels worthy of the richest1 percent.
A review of the Warren for Senate campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission shows that someone on her campaign stayed at the Starwood Hotel’s luxurious “W” chain three times — once in December in Washington, and twice in New York City, in February and March. The Washington stay cost the campaign $1,099; the February stay cost the campaign $1,058, and the March stay cost $2,124.
According to the Starwood Hotels web site, a room at the W in Washington runs a minimum of $375 per night and goes up to $619; a stay at the one in New York’s Union Square runs at minimum $479 per night and goes all the way up to $4,000. (Hotels may change their price depending on the season and night of the week.) The lowest-cost “wonderful room” at the W features an “ergonomic workspace” and a bathroom with “Bliss Lemon + Sage Sinkside Six.” At the Union Square venue, “pillow-top mattress is layered with a featherbed and down duvet, and accented by plump down pillows and a headboard that winks at the electrifying contrasts of the surrounding neighborhood.”
The Warren campaign likes to emphasize that many of their donors are not wealthy; they said 81 percent of their donations in the most recent quarter were for $50 or less. And now those small donors can rest easy, knowing that Warren or her staffers aren’t forced to make do with one of those mundane, non-winking headboards.
Just to clarify, this is the Elizabeth Warren whose net worth is about $14.5 million, who emphasized in television interviews that she isn’t one of those “wealthy individuals who have a lot of stock portfolios.”
Campaign records through March 31 show Warren’s campaign also spent $18,210 on catering, $18,000 to purchase the e-mail list of Change.org, $10,351 to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign to purchase their e-mail list; $7,666 on office supplies, $1,610 on parking, $1,427 on 17 separate charges for flowers from Winston Flowers in Boston, $885 on photocopies, and $414 to “Nestle Pure Life” for “water.”