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The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 38, September 21, 2008, Article 31

WOMAN USES UNCUT PAPER MONEY SHEETS TO WRAP PRESENTS

The Washington Post this week published an article about a local woman raising eyebrows with her choice of gift wrapping paper: sheets of uncut $1 bills. -Editor
Uncut Sheets as wrapping paper Need more proof that the money meltdown is making people nuts? Consider lobbyist Edwina Rogers, who's catching hell for wrapping presents in $1 bills.

"I'm getting death threats," Rogers told us yesterday. "I'm just a little girl from Alabama, so the whole image is wrong."

The Republican lawyer was filmed for the pilot of "PowerHouse," a peek inside homes of local VIPs -- hers being an 18,000-square-foot McLean mansion. Rogers shared one of her trademarks: Covering small gifts with sheets of uncut U.S. currency. A clip was posted on Hotline last month, then made its way onto blogs and the "Colbert Report" Monday as a symbol of K Street's wretched excess.

That's so not what she meant. The health policy lobbyist (previous gigs in the Senate and White House) started wrapping inexpensive presidential cuff links in dollars 10 years ago -- as small, under-$20 thank-you's that would comply with ethics rules. "I was trying to be perfectly legal, but be unique and interesting," she said. "I only use it on tiny gifts." Friends love it, especially foreigners.

And yes -- you too can wrap your presents in cash. The "Buy Paper Money" link on the Treasury Department's Web site offers uncut sheets of 32 bills (for $55); 16 $1 bills (for $33) -- or if you're feeling flush, sheets of $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills.

But take note: While uncut currency is legal tender (you can cut around the bills), slicing them in half (as Rogers does in the clip) is technically considered defacement.

So THAT's how the other half lives. A couple weeks ago I drove through Mclean and Great Falls, VA. My wife lived there for a time and we visited a friend who lived in what I thought was a gigantic home. But that must have been the poor section of town. The part I saw recently was lined with positively enormous, jaw-dropping size homes. -Editor
To read the complete article, see: Her Motto: Say It With Moolah (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091703941.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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