Gulp! Senators urged to sip from brand-less bottles
The broadcast of Senate sessions will no longer include inadvertent advertisements for Poland Springs and Dunkin' Donuts, if Senate President Stanley Rosenberg's plan works.
When senators arrived in the chamber Wednesday to vote on local road funding, each member found a translucent blue bottle with a Massachusetts Senate seal on it at their desks. At the end of the session Rosenberg explained that a member had brought his attention to the problem of lawmakers displaying brand-name drinks in the chamber and said they could use the new bottles instead.
"Over time I noticed that members departed from what had been tradition and decorum in the Senate where we consciously avoided displaying of commercial products," Sen. Robert Hedlund said.
Hedlund said he complained a few times about the decorum breach during the presidency of Therese Murray, which ended in January. He said Rosenberg agrees with him.
"Over time, members started wandering in with Poland Spring bottles that they would take from their caucus, and it got to the point where then it led to people wandering in with Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee, and then one day one member actually wandered in with a 7-11 Big Gulp," Hedlund said.
The Weymouth Republican said former Senate President William Bulger would ensure the brand name faced the wall on the Senate's water bubbler.
"I think there's a certain sanctity that should be provided when we are in session and that those traditions should be adhered to," Hedlund said.
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