Mark Warner Charged Taxpayers at least $150,000 for Chartered Luxury Flights so Far
Majority of U.S. Senators, including Tim Kaine, fly commercial or drive
RICHMOND — The Ed Gillespie for Senate Campaign today released a new video that highlights the findings of a recent USA Today report that found Mark Warner, who is the wealthiest member of the U.S. Senate, is among a handful of Senators who also charge taxpayers for chartered luxury air travel. Senator Warner, who lives less than ten miles from the Capitol, has averaged a private chartered flight every other month since leaving for Washington. By comparison, Tim Kaine did not charter a single private flight last year. Warner’s charter air travel has cost taxpayers at least $150,000 so far.
The video, “Fly Air Warner,” is available at the following link: http://youtu.be/En3VuKB6BsU
The USA Today report, including a side-by-side comparison of nearly identical trips that cost Tim Kaine $690 and Mark Warner more than $8,500, is available at the following link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/31/senators-charter-1million-flights/13379561/
The company Senator Warner uses to charter his flights notes on its website that, “Flights on Zen Air aircraft are not about transportation, they are about travel.” http://www.zenair.us/services/concierge/
Speaking about Mark Warner’s chartered plane habit, Gillespie spokesman Paul Logan said, “It’s telling that after dozens of reports on Mark Warner’s taxpayer-funded luxury air travel, when cheaper options were available and Tim Kaine didn’t charter a single flight last year, that Mark Warner continues to defend the practice. This is another example of Mark Warner saying one thing regarding fiscal discipline and doing something else.”
In his first TV ad in 2008, Mark Warner said he would cut spending and “clean up the mess in Washington.”
In his first speech on the floor of the Senate in 2009, Warner called for a, “line-by-line review of the federal budget to identify waste and fraud.”
In 2010 press release, he called for federal agencies to, “aggressively look for more ways to save taxpayer money”
He told the Free Lance-Star in 2011, “We will ask of everyone to put a little skin in the game,” when it comes to reducing spending.
In Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony in 2012, Warner said, “The public deserves to know in detail how each federal dollar is spent and it’s our job to ensure that these funds are used effectively and efficiently.”
In a press release in 2013, he said, “in this tough economic climate, we should be doing all we can to ensure that taxpayers and policymakers can follow the money to hold our government more accountable.”
In a press release this year, Mark Warner said, “I promise to keep working in the Senate to continue to hold the federal government accountable for waste, fraud, and inefficiency, and give the taxpayers the transparency they deserve.”
In another press release this year, Warner said, “we should take every opportunity to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely.”
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