 Nixon stated that no contributor to the fund got any service that an ordinary constituent would not have received , and then anticipated the skeptical questions , " Well , what did you use the fund for , Senator ? Why did you have to have it ? " In response to his rhetorical question , he explained salary and office allowances for senators . He went through different ways that political expenses could be met . One way was to be rich , but the senator stated that he was not rich . Another way was to put one 's spouse on the Congressional office payroll , as , he stated , his Democratic rival , Senator John Sparkman , had done . Nixon did not feel comfortable doing that himself with so many deserving stenographers in Washington needing work , though Pat Nixon was a " wonderful stenographer " and sometimes helped out in the office as a volunteer . At this point , the camera turned from Nixon for the first time to reveal Pat Nixon sitting alongside the desk . The senator indicated he could not continue his law practice , as some Congressmen did , due to the distance to California , and in any event he felt that practicing law while a lawmaker was a conflict of interest . Thus , he indicated , he had found that the best way to pay for political expenses not within his means was to allow contributors to do so . Nixon proffered the legal and accounting opinions as proof of his statements . 
