The internal investigation report of Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) misuse of taxpayers money conveniently dropped today, just four days late of the original deadline Landrieu said the report would be released.
The findings? Landrieu broke federal law 43 times by charging taxpayers for private plane flights to campaign fundraising events, costing taxpayers $33,727.02. Here’s a point-by-point breakdown of the findings.
· 1 out of every 10 travel dollars spent by Landrieu was improperly charged to taxpayers.
· In total, 43 flights were found to have been improperly charged to taxpayers.
· Landrieu’s campaign said the report would be available before Sept. 8 when the Senate came back into session, but instead released it 4 days late… in a Friday afternoon news dump.
· Landrieu’s campaign said that all 17 years of her Senate travel records would be reviewed, but today’s report only goes back to 2002 – 5 years are still unaccounted for.
· Landrieu told reporters when she qualified for the ballot that the taxpayer money spent on private flights wasn’t “going send anyone to college. It’s not going to build any levees. It’s not going to help people pay their flood insurance.”
According to Landrieu’s office, all of the errors that were found have been reported to the Senate Ethics Committee and fully repaid by Landrieu’s campaign. Also, Landrieu has apparently implemented a new system to counter the issues in the future.
But, 43 illegal charges to taxpayers for private plane rides does not seem like an accident. Republican National Convention Chairman Reince Priebus said Landrieu’s office needs to be fully investigated.
“Forty-three inappropriately billed flights and misuse of tens of thousands in taxpayer dollars is a slap in the face to Louisianans,” said Priebus in a statement. “The sheer number of flights on the taxpayer dime warrants a more detailed investigation, Senator Landrieu needs to open her books to a purely independent investigation.”
Priebus said Landrieu only aknowledged her own misuse of taxpayer money after it was reported to the public back months ago, tweeting “@SenLandrieu pays back taxpayers for 12 years of illegal flights ONLY after getting caught. How much interest does she owe? #LASen“
Read the full report here.
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