Waste of the Day: Senator Spent $210,000 On Private Jets
Topline: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has spent $210,000 of taxpayer money on 11 private flights since 2020, according to public records reviewed by the Daily Beast.
Key facts: Sinema’s flight tab includes $116,000 just from 2023. A single trip last August for Sinema and four staffers cost $50,250.
The money came out of Sinema’s taxpayer-funded office budget, which was $4.1 million last year.
Lawmakers rarely use public money on private flights, according to the Daily Beast. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) has seemingly never done so, even though he travels to many of the same cities as Sinema.
A spokesperson for Sinema told Fox News that the air travel was a time-saving measure to help the senator “connect with as many constituents in [Arizona] as possible.” But Fox News pointed out that Sinema did not hold a single public town hall while taking the flights.
Sinema’s town halls since 2020 have mostly been over the phone. One in-person appearance was open only to employees of the technology company Honeywell, which donated $75,000 to the senator’s PAC in 2022.
Sinema backed the No Ongoing Perks Enrichment Act in 2017, which would have banned legislators from using taxpayer money on first-class flights. It seems safe to say she has no regrets that the bill failed to pass.
Sinema is not seeking reelection in 2024.
Background: The Daily Beast previously reported that Sinema often scheduled fundraisers near marathons she participated in as a runner and then listed the trip as a campaign expense.
Her campaign also spent over $100,000 on luxury items like wine and limousines, the New York Post found.
Critical quote: A former aide for Sen. Chuck Grassley criticized Sinema’s fundraising from private sources, not just her taxpayer waste.
“Sinema will have a lot of funding from Wall Street — her whole goal was to get money from these types,” Garrett Ventry told the New York Post. “Of course that is something of a turn off to everyone in this environment.”
Summary: Past examples of taxpayer-funded trips by other federal lawmakers have at least included excursions to exotic locales like the Galapagos Islands. How dull of Sinema to use $210,000 to fly around her own state.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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