November 25, 2024 12:47 PM UTC

Lauren Boebert Picks Up George Santos' Favorite Side Hustle

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• by: Colorado Pols

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a situation we can’t ourselves imagine, but probably does exist:

As Hafiz Rashid reports for the New Republic, Colorado’s headline-hunting carpetbagger-a-vita Rep. Lauren Boebert has joined her friends and now-former colleagues Matt Gaetz and George Santos offering personalized video messages via Cameo for a mere $250:

The far-right Colorado congresswoman and live theater enthusiast joins her former colleagues George Santos and Matt Gaetz on the platform, charging $250 for personal advice or a “pep talk.” She posted a welcome video outlining the services that she would offer through the celebrity video service.

“Hey, Cameo, it’s your girl from Colorado, Lauren Boebert,” she said in the video. “Whether you or someone you know needs an America First pep talk, if you want to surprise friends or family with a message for a special day, or if you just want to know my thoughts on whatever’s on your mind, Cameo is the place to connect with me.”

Looks like fun and apparently everybody’s doing it, right? Unfortunately, there is a wrinkle:

But there’s a reason why she only has former colleagues on Cameo: She could be breaking the rules for members of the House of Representatives. First, there’s an outside income limit of $31,815, so she’d have to watch how much money she makes, and second, under House rules, members are prohibited from receiving honoraria, defined as a “payment of money or thing of value for an appearance, speech, or article.”

From billing her campaign for enough “mileage reimbursements” to travel the globe to repeatedly “accidentally” hitting up the campaign account to cover personal expenses, Lauren Boebert is certainly no stranger to pushing the ethical boundaries to make ends meet. To the extent that a Cameo video for hire may fall under a gray area not yet expressly prohibited by House rules, Boebert is right there to test the case–and pocket up to $31,815 while she does so, since that does look like the clearer limit. And if this seems a little, you know, cheap or desperate, at this point we’re resigned to that being part of Boebert’s charm. Elections are where these questions meet their acid test, after all. What is Boebert not doing while she’s busy making Cameos? Everything voters elected her to do.

Before contemplating all the ways this could be abused, and we admit there are many, remember of course that Rep. Boebert will have the final say on the script she reads.

Which isn’t going to stop Jimmy Kimmel from trying.