A Florida congressman said in a newspaper story published Tuesday that when he recently lambasted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for "arrogance of extravagance" over her possible use of a military jet that his comments were not based on any first-hand knowledge of the matter.

"This is not about having secure communications and secure aircraft available to her. It's about an arrogance of extravagance that demands a jumbo jet that costs $22,000 an hour to operate to taxi her and her buddies back and forth to California," Putnam is quoted as having told Fox News.

The story, dubbed by some as "Air Pelosi," took on a life of its own, although Putnam acknowledged to the Tampa Tribune that he had no personal knowledge of any Pelosi request, and was instead relying an anonymously-sourced story in The Washington Times and additional coverage from CNN.

The nonpartisan House sergeant-at-arms released a written statement the day after the story broke -- and was pushed hard by Putnam -- that he asked for a plane that could carry Pelosi nonstop to her home in San Francisco.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said of the flap that, "This is a silly story, and I think it's been unfair to the speaker."

Putnam told the newspaper he was pleased that the story got national attention because it was "the first break [Republicans] have had from the media in driving our message since before the Mark Foley story broke."