I'm sorry, but I'd fly that over coach any day.
Posted on 06/23/2004 9:42:03 PM PDT by neverdem
Howard Mills does not have much money, or support, or, for that matter, basic name recognition in his bid to unseat United States Senator Charles E. Schumer. But Mr. Mills did manage to land a blow in his long-shot bid this week.
Mr. Mills's staff pored over documents and maps and found that during his years in office, Mr. Schumer chartered private planes 603 times, spending $409,253 of taxpayer money. They asserted that they had caught the senator using tax dollars to fly around the state to raise campaign cash, which would be illegal, and turned their findings over to The New York Times.
Asked for a response to Mr. Mills's claims, Mr. Schumer's staff began its own review, and found that on some 35 occasions, Mr. Schumer had let taxpayers foot the bill for his political and fund-raising trips.
It was, if nothing else, a humbling moment for Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, whose office described the questionable billing as "accounting errors." After having tried to effectively ignore his opponent as irrelevant, Mr. Schumer's staff instead had to announce that the senator's campaign was - because of Mr. Mills's initial inquiries - returning some $20,000 to the federal government.
Hoping to dampen the political fallout, Mr. Schumer's aides said the flights in question were a mere fraction of the charter flights the senator had used to traverse the state - an effort he otherwise trumpets as one of the more impressive constituent outreach efforts by any senator in the country. They also said that some of the trips involved fund-raising, while others involved events such as speeches at political functions.
For Mr. Mills, though, Mr. Schumer's momentary embarrassment was a victory worth savoring, even squeezing for every possible ounce of impact.
"Senator Schumer has effectively admitted to violating the law," said Kevin Collins, campaign manager for Mr. Mills, a Republican in the New York State Assembly.
Not surprising, the Schumer camp disagrees. The campaign said that despite Mr. Mills's efforts to make an issue of the senator's travels, the roughly 35 questionable trips would not have been uncovered had Mr. Schumer's office not conducted its review. In its statement, Mr. Schumer's office said that the bulk of Mr. Mills's allegations were wrong.
"After a series of questions and finding one discrepancy out of 10 examples Senator Schumer ordered a complete review of all travel expenditures for his office," read a statement released by his press staff. "Over the last five and a half years, the review found approximately 35 trips with accounting errors, totaling less then $20,000 which is less than 5 percent. Senator Schumer has made full reimbursement in accordance with all procedures."
The story of the disputed flights, at minimum, is a revealing look at the efforts of an underfinanced campaign to make itself heard, and it shows something both about Mr. Schumer's practices as well as Mr. Mills's team's inclination to overreaching. For while the Mills effort was thematically prescient, it was, upon examination, far from perfect in its substantive analysis.
Mr. Mills is a six-year veteran of the New York State Legislature, a body monopolized by Democrats. With little influence in the Legislature, and with long odds in his Senate race, Mr. Mills was faced with a reality of few resources and no momentum.
So he turned to his campaign team, led by two veteran political operatives and about half a dozen young men and women armed with computers and a hefty dose of patience. The goal was to turn Mr. Schumer's strengths - his $20 million war chest and his record of aggressively traveling the state - into a political liability.
Thus was born the campaign known as "Charter Chuck."
In a small office across from an abandoned bus station in downtown Albany, Mr. Mills's campaign staff spent months poring over Mr. Schumer's records. By cross referencing Mr. Schumer's fund-raising reports with his government spending reports, staff members came up with what they believed were a variety of serious, and potentially embarrassing, charges.
The crux of their case was that, in chartering of hundreds of flights, Mr. Schumer had used tax dollars to raise campaign cash at least 65 times. They said also that on 18 occasions, Mr. Schumer had taken flights of less than 35 miles, in one case flying just 8.1 miles.
"This is a massive and flagrant violation of the taxpayers' wallet and probably a violation of the law," Mr. Collins said in making the allegations. "Chuck Schumer has a lot of explaining to do."
The Mills team, even if on to something, did not get it all right.
It charged that Mr. Schumer was flying in luxury, when in fact, records reviewed by The Times show that he was flying a single engine, propeller driven Beechcraft Bonanza.
The Mills team was undaunted after that charge was debunked. Mr. Schumer, they said, had still abused his flight time in the 18 short trips. It turned out that the Mills researchers had misunderstood the federal documents they were citing - Mr. Schumer had driven on those trips - though that did not diminish their effort.
In making its most explosive charge, the Mills staff pointed to what it called its top 10 list of flights in which the researchers said that Mr. Schumer was flying on the taxpayers tab while raising money for his campaign.
The problem was that again the staff members made incorrect assumptions based on what they were looking at. In nine of the 10 cases, Mr. Schumer was able to prove that they were wrong. Either there had been no fund-raisers, or he had made the proper payments.
There was one case, however, dealing with a flight to Syracuse, in which Mr. Schumer's staff conceded that the senator had attended a fund-raiser and failed to have his campaign pay its portion of the flight. A Schumer aide said that the campaign was cutting a check for $481.79 to the government to cover the cost.
Mr. Schumer and his staff were clearly shaken, and so they shifted into high gear, presumably hoping to prove that there were no other "accounting errors." The staff began a review of all its flights - and in the end handed Mr. Mills his biggest victory yet, a concession that Mr. Schumer, despite his experience and professional staff, had erred on about 35 occasions.
The Schumer staff said that Mr. Mills had at least one detail rock solid: There were lots of flights. That, however, was something Mr. Schumer's staff was quite proud of.
"Senator Schumer made a promise when he was first elected to the Senate to visit all 62 counties, and he is proud that he has kept that promise not just once, but every single year," said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for the senator.
But none of that mattered to Mr. Collins, Mr. Mills's campaign manager, who in the end felt vindicated.
"He needs to be held accountable," Mr. Collins said.
PING
"accounting errors."
ROFL Yeah, right.
The sneering tone of this article is what we have come to expect from the NY Times whenever it must grudgingly acknowledge the mere existence of a Republican challenger to one of their favorite Democrats. Can anybody recall any occasion when the NY Times has taken Schumer to task for his (many, many) overreaching statements? I didn't think so...
However, if they were going to print the story at all, they couldn't have it look too good for the Mills team or have it reflect too badly on their boy, Schumer.
Consequently, a good 80% of the text is devoted to the proposition that the Mills campaign didn't really get it 100% right, while Schumer was actually more accurate in identifying his transgressions.
Tortured spin.
It was, if nothing else, a humbling moment for Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, whose office described the questionable billing as "accounting errors."
"chuckie" roast,, hard to chew and even harder to swallow
This reminds me of the time (99?) in Chicago, when my congresscritter Luis Gutierrez, discovered that he was supposed to pay property taxes. Only after he had been caught not paying them after several years.
chuckie will skate,he is a demwit and rules don't apply.
That's just plain ridiculous; it's wasteful and illustrates just what an elitist Schumer is.
And if you think Chucky flew all over NY in a single engine plane, I'd like to sell you two 107 storey buildings in NYC. Contrary to what the NY Times wanted this story does show just how high-flying Chucky Schumer is.
Chuckie is just showing the World the power and Privilege of Incumbency. A Private Jet for Chuckie, Air Force One for Hillary, Billy, Al and yes even Dubya.
I'm sorry, but I'd fly that over coach any day.
BTTT
"while the Mills effort was thematically prescient, it was, upon examination, far from perfect in its substantive analysis"
I loved this statement. So typical of the liberal elite.
Anything that will wipe the scowl off of Schmuckie Chumer's face is good news.
ping
I attended High School with that little squirt, remember my father going to his precinct office one time and scaring the you know what out of him, about some abandonned property in Humboldt Park that needed razing and he saw no problem,.
Also remember the fools of the FALN and the socialist teachers at Tuley High School.
You might wonder how this kind of thing can be resolved by Charter Chuck with a $480 check. The guys in Congress have set up a sweetheart deal for themselves: they can get us taxpaying chumps to pick up the cost of a charter, and then they "reimburse" the government the cost of alternative public transportation: a coach ticket, or bus fare.
The writer of this piece belittles a Beechcraft Bonanza. Well, let me tell you why the vainglorious Chuck flies in that small six-seater: it comes and goes on his schedule, there is no inconvenient security (might be important: there are persistent rumors that Chuck carries a gun), and no waiting for airline schedules or other passengers. You will have no 400-pound, hygenically-challenged behemoth, nor any screaming infant in the next seat. Politicians hate flying scheduled airlines because it exposes them to unscripted contact with the electorate, and nothing good can come of that.
"I only cheated a little, and I paid it back when I got caught," seems to be what he's saying here, and Charter Chuck wants brownie points for that. Sheesh.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Nice to know how our betters take care of themselves, thanks. Fienswine is authoritatively rumored to have a carry permit. I have read that the Chicago City Council have been deputized so they can carry. Remember that great proponent of gun control, the late columnist Carl Rowan shot or brandished on someone breaking and entering. He had a throw away from his son, a Federal Marshall in D.C., IIRC.
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