Caught Again: Landrieu Will Reimburse Taxpayers for
Another Campaign Flight She Took 11 Months Ago
by Michael Patrick Leahy 14 Aug 2014, 10:27 AM PDT
CNN reported on
Wednesday that Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) plans to reimburse taxpayers $5,700 for a
charter flight she took eleven months ago in September 2013 from Shreveport,
Louisiana to Dallas, Texas to attend a campaign fundraiser. It is against the
law for elected public officials to pay for campaign activities with taxpayer
funds.
This new report comes on the heels of a CNN report on Tuesday that
Senator Landrieu reimbursed taxpayers $3,200 on August 4 for a round trip
charter flight she took from New Orleans to a St. Charles, Louisiana campaign
fundraiser on November 8, 2013.
CNN reported that Matthew Lehner, Senator Landrieu's
director of communications, issued a statement
on Wednesday attempting to explain this latest uncovered use of taxpayer funds
for political purposes. "Sen. Landrieu was invited to an official evening
event in Shreveport. She was traveling back to D.C. through Dallas, and a
fundraiser in Dallas was added to her schedule. Out of an abundance of caution
in case there was a cost allocation error connected to this flight, the Senate
will be reimbursed for the (Shreveport to Dallas) flight."
Lehner's suggestion that Landrieu's charter flight from
Shreveport, Louisiana back to Washington, D.C. was required to travel through
Dallas, Texas stretches credulity. Dallas is 185 miles due west of Shreveport.
Stopping in Dallas required going in the exact opposite direction of a direct
flight plan east from Shreveport to Washington, D.C.
Landrieu's Republican opponents looking to defeat her in
November's general election jumped on the growing scandal.
In a statement about this new charter flight revelation,
Colonel Rob Maness said "[e]very day, new details about Sen. Mary
Landrieu's questionable and illegal use of taxpayer dollars are
exposed."
"This isn't an isolated incident, it's an ongoing
pattern-of-behavior," Maness added. "It's just as alarming that Sen.
Landrieu has publicly acknowledged that absent this new scrutiny on how she
uses taxpayer dollars, none of her activities would have been revisited. What
does it say about Sen. Landrieu that the only reason why she won't continue to
carelessly use taxpayer dollars to pay for charter flights, luxury hotels and
political activities is because she got caught?"
Landrieu's other major Republican challenger, Congressman
Bill Cassidy, had previously criticized
Landrieu's late reimbursement of a charter flight to the Lake Charles,
Louisiana campaign fundraiser.
News of this second previously unreported use of taxpayer funds
for campaign events by Sator Landrieu is certain to intensify scrutiny of every
taxpayer funded trip Landrieu has taken during her three terms in the United
States Senate. With the discovery of two campaign trips funded by the taxpayers
already, it seems likely that additional revelations may well be on their way.
Mary Landrieu
Mary L. Landrieu
is a U.S. Senate senator, and William Knapp was her media consultant.
Note: William Knapp was Mary L. Landrieu’s media consultant, a partner at Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, and is a managing director at SKDKnickerbocker.
Note: William Knapp was Mary L. Landrieu’s media consultant, a partner at Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, and is a managing director at SKDKnickerbocker.
Anita
B. Dunn is a managing director at the SKDKnickerbocker,
married to Robert F. Bauer, head of
media for the Barack Obama Presidential
Library, was a political consultant for Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, the communications director for
the Barack Obama administration, a senior
political adviser for Tom Daschle, William W. Bradley’s chief of staff,
and produced an ad campaign for the Keystone
XL pipeline.
Robert
F. Bauer is married to Anita B. Dunn,
was the White House counsel for the Barack
Obama administration, and personal counsel for Barack Obama.
Barack
Obama’s personal counsel was Robert
F. Bauer, an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, is the president for the Barack
Obama administration, and the honoree for the Barack Obama Presidential Library.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP, and her brother is Craig M.
Robinson.
Craig M. Robinson
is Michelle Obama’s brother, a
friend of Martin Nesbitt, and Penny S. Pritzker’s was his basketball
coach to children's team.
Martin
Nesbitt is Craig M. Robinson’s
friend, Barack Obama’s friend, heading
the fundraising effort for the Barack
Obama Presidential Library, and was a VP at the Pritzker Realty Group.
Penny S. Pritzker
was the chairman for the Pritzker Realty
Group, Craig M. Robinson’s
basketball coach for the children's team,
the national finance chair, fundraiser for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, a co-chair for the 2009 Barack Obama inaugural committee,
a fundraiser, national co-chair for the 2012
Barack Obama presidential campaign, a contributor for the 2013 Barack Obama inaugural committee,
the host for the Barack Obama
fund-raising dinner, 7/2/2008, is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce for
the Barack Obama administration,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Susan
E. Rice was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
is the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a stockholder in the TransCanada Corporation.
TransCanada
Corporation is a SKDKnickerbocker
client, and the proposed builder for the Keystone
XL pipeline.
Squier
Knapp Dunn Communications is a merged company with SKDKnickerbocker.
Anita
B. Dunn is a managing director at the SKDKnickerbocker,
married to Robert F. Bauer, head of
media for the Barack Obama Presidential
Library, was a political consultant for Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, the communications director for
the Barack Obama administration, a senior
political adviser for Tom Daschle, William W. Bradley’s chief of staff,
and produced an ad campaign for the Keystone
XL pipeline.
William
Knapp was a partner at Squier Knapp
Dunn Communications, Mary L.
Landrieu’s media consultant, and is a managing director at SKDKnickerbocker.
Mary
L. Landrieu’s media consultant was William
Knapp, and is a U.S. Senate
senator.
Tom Daschle’s senior
political adviser was Anita B. Dunn,
a nominee for health and human services secretary for the Barack Obama administration, is the chairman for the Center for American Progress, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Sundance Institute, and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), a director at the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), and the founder of CNN.
William W. Bradley
is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Starbucks Corporation, Mellody L. Hobson’s mentor, and Anita B. Dunn was his chief of staff.
Mellody L. Hobson’s
mentor is William W. Bradley, a
director at the Starbucks Corporation,
a trustee at the Sundance Institute,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Susan E. Rice was
a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is the White
House national security adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and a stockholder in the TransCanada Corporation.
TransCanada
Corporation is a SKDKnickerbocker
client, and the proposed builder for the Keystone
XL pipeline.
Squier
Knapp Dunn Communications is a merged company with SKDKnickerbocker.
Anita B. Dunn is
a managing director at the SKDKnickerbocker,
married to Robert F. Bauer, head of
media for the Barack Obama Presidential
Library, was a political consultant for Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, the communications director for
the Barack Obama administration, a senior
political adviser for Tom Daschle, William W. Bradley’s chief of staff,
and produced an ad campaign for the Keystone
XL pipeline.
William Knapp
was a partner at Squier Knapp Dunn
Communications, Mary L. Landrieu’s
media consultant, and is a managing director at SKDKnickerbocker.
Mary L. Landrieu’s
media consultant was William Knapp,
and is a U.S. Senate senator.
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