Posted on 07/01/2004 6:28:42 AM PDT by ConservativeMajority
(Talon News) -- Republican senatorial candidate Howard Mills has charged that Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) misused taxpayer funds for his reelection campaign. The New York state assemblyman's staff pored over Schumer's travel records and discovered the senator had chartered private planes 603 times, spending $409,523 of taxpayer money. The fact that some of these flights were fundraising trips has resulted in Mills accusing Schumer of FEC and ethics violations.
Schumer quietly repaid about $20,000 and his press staff issued a statement that said a complete review found "approximately 35 trips with accounting errors ... less than 5 percent."
Mills, a six-year veteran of the New York state legislature, is looking to make political hay by focusing on Schumer's ethical lapse. He has dubbed his opponent "Charter Chuck," hoping to keep the issue alive throughout the campaign.
New York Republican State Committee Chairman Sandy Treadwell announced Tuesday that complaints would be filed with both the Senate Ethics Committee and the Federal Elections Commission. He is asking that Schumer be disciplined for the violations that he has already admitted to as well as be subject to a thorough and objective audit of government-funded travel expenses.
Treadwell said, "Schumer filed false documents for reimbursement claiming official trips on 35 occasions that we know of. There may be more instances of abuse -- that's why we need these investigations."
The Republican chairman disputed Schumer spokesman Stu Loeser's claim that the travel information had been made public.
Treadwell said, "That statement is a lie. Chuck Schumer's staff has not made his travel information public."
Treadwell contended, "These flagrant violations of the law were not 'accounting errors.' This is a pattern of abuse that has gone on for years."
Schumer is the second Democratic senator to have ethics complaints filed against him in recent weeks. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) faces an ethics complaint for continuing to draw a senate paycheck while being absent from the chamber in violation of its rules.
In 2002, Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) was forced to abandon his reelection campaign following his rebuke from the senate for ethics violations. He was replaced on the ballot by Frank Lautenberg as the result of a controversial ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court, and went on to defeat Republican Doug Forrester.
Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
So what? He is a Rat and laws do not apply to them.
hope it sticks.
In the words of Micheal Dukakis, who left 41 harborside communities to bear the full cost of the Boston Harbor cleanup when he was too busy campaigning to apply for Federal funds (which would have covered almost 70% of the cost): "It was an oversight."
I'm starting to see a pattern I like - Republicans actually trying to call Dims to task and pointing out their duplicity/hypocrasy. I hope it continues, because the mood/conditions are ripe for some positive effects for our side.
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