This smells strange.
Vice President Kamala Harris worked with a Los Angeles candlemaker to create her signature candle scent, and she didn't want her successor in the California House of Representatives to copy it.
Veep's jasmine-scented candles bear her office's seal and have been given out as gifts throughout her term, inspiring others in Washington to want their own candles. .
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was so impressed with the item that he asked creator Melanie Apple Fields to make 125 candles using Harris' scent for an event he was hosting. I want you to do it,” he asked. Los Angeles Times reported This is Harris's profile.
The article stated, “Harris' office gave Padilla permission to manufacture similar candles, but required him to use a different scent.”
Apple Fields told the Post that Harris' office waived a non-disclosure agreement that allowed her to speak to the Los Angeles Times about Candle as part of a feature on Harris' return to California. . Kumquat.
“I have an NDA with her. I have an NDA with her. So I wasn't allowed to publish anything until this article came out,” he said in the Studio City neighborhood of Tinseltown. said Apple Fields, owner of Voyage et Cie in .
“A journalist called me and said, 'I don't think I'm allowed to talk about this.' She said, 'No, we have permission,' and then the communications director said, 'I don't think you're allowed to talk about this.' [for Harris] I called and they said it was okay. ”
Apple Fields, who met with Harris before she became vice president, said initial reports of what D.C. officials now jokingly refer to as Candlegate were “a little more dramatic than they originally were.” , he said, was largely accurate.
“[Harris’ office] Apple Fields told the Post about her interactions with Padilla's people, adding, “They weren't mean.”
“They're just hers and they look really beautiful.”
Apple Fields said she sold Harris “definitely more than 2,000 candles,” but said she didn't know the exact number and said it could be more than 5,000.
The candle was given as a gift to the President of El Salvador and King Abdullah II of Jordan, the LA Times reported.
First lady Jill Biden's office, also inspired by the Harris version, has been purchasing its own candle for nearly three years.
Apple Fields said the first lady's candle features a golden image of the White House and is scented with gardenias.
Padilla, who was appointed to replace Harris, who became vice president in January 2021, was more interested in the appearance of the candles than in their scent, a spokesperson for his office told the Post.
The representative shared with the Post a December 2022 email from a Padilla staff member to Apple Fields requesting 100 votive candles with boxes and ribbons. The email stated, “We are flexible about scents (types are OK).''
Apple Fields told the Post that although he is a Democrat, he tries to keep his business apolitical and is willing to do business for former President Donald Trump as well as some Republicans. He said he plans to make personalized candles.
“I think he's a mean person. I would do that. [Utah Sen.] Mitt Romney, but he doesn't want to do it for Trump. He has to like the person,” she said.
Harris, 59, is the country's first woman and second non-white vice president and is seeking a second four-year term alongside Biden, 81, in this year's election.
A spokeswoman for Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
The vice president's policy portfolio includes addressing the root causes of illegal immigration and defending voting and abortion rights.
