GOP Rep. Rigell Takes Humorous Tack to Elude Ban to Greet Constituents

Republican Rep. Scott Rigell thought Congress was naughty in banning holiday greetings through congressional mail, so he found a nice way around it, spreading some cheer via YouTube.

The ban came last week, when members of Congress were told they no longer could send holiday greetings, birthday wishes, or condolences, amongst other messages, through official congressional mail.

So the Virginia congressman opted for a video instead. The new holiday guidance has “really deflated, I think, the whole spirit of the season,” Rigell says in his lighthearted and humorous video message, as an inflatable Christmas Snoopy collapses in the background.

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“We’re not able to say to our Jewish friends what we’d like to say, and we’re not able to say what I’ve said all of my life since a child when I meet people in the grocery store, when I see my friends and my fellow family members.”

Rigell concludes his video saying that, when he thinks about the new holiday guidance and tries to put it in perspective with the Constitution, he knows exactly what to do.

“It’s good and proper and right and constitutional to look into the camera and say to all of our friends and family across the second district and across the great Commonwealth of Virginia and the country, ‘Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and wonderful and sincere holiday greetings from all of us in our office to each of you.’”