With a sweet tooth, they help themselves at ‘Candy Desk’

Washington / DPA

There’s a certain desk on the right-hand side of the US Senate where a drawers is always stuffed with sweets and chocolates for the taking.
Whoever has a sweet tooth or a craving simply has to stop by the ‘Candy Desk,’ though unfortunately for the Democrats, it’s on the Republican side of the chamber.
The tradition started in 1965 with Senator George Murphy who always kept a supply of candy in his desk for his colleagues.
When he left the Senate in 1971, the tradition was continued on by his successors. Although there’s actually a ban on eating in the chamber, nobody’s prepared to go without chocolate. “It started with a guy who had a sweet tooth and he wanted to make sure that he always had a supply and then he discovered very quickly that his desk became a popular place to stop and mingle,” Pat Toomey, the senate’s current “candy man,” told ABC News.
Murphy’s desk stands at the most used entrance to the chamber and because of the way the seats are divided, it’s unlikely to ever fall into Democratic hands.
There’s always a lot of interest in who inherits it, and the senator who wins is the one who’s been in the chamber longest, says Daniel S Holt, an assistant historian at the Senate Historical Office. Those who win the desk usually hang up a sign from the confectionery industry in their state, which then donates all the candy.
Although it’s forbidden for senators to receive gifts worth more than 100 dollars, that doesn’t apply to products that are made in the senator’s home state and which are given to third parties. Toomey’s immediate predecessor, Senator Mark Kirk, filled the desk’s drawer with Mars bars, Milky Ways, Jelly Bellies and Snickers, all examples of confectionery made in Illinois.
Previous Candy Desk incumbents include former presidential candidates John McCain and Rick Santorum.
Toomey inherited the seat last year.
“Pennsylvania, as everyone knows, is the candy capital of America. It was totally appropriate that I be the candy man,” he said.
His state is home to more than 200 confectionery companies and he’s been keeping the desk stocked with chocolates like Three Musketeers and more Milky Way by Mars, and Hershey’s Twizzlers.
“I will tell you the Three Musketeers bar has long been my favourite candy,” Toomey said. “But I seldom turn down a candy of any kind.”
Even the Democrats come by the Candy Desk, says Holt. They have started to stock their own supplies on their side – but they have to pay for them themselves.