Senator Kirsten Sinema reportedly used tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for her expenses as she traveled across the country competing in marathons and triathlons, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development, Sinema comes months after abruptly left the Democratic Party in December 2022, the now-independent Senator has been accused of using campaign funds to pay for her travel expenses and other provisions on at least six separate occasions between 2019 and 2022.
Even more surprising are the claims that the 46-year-old senator from Arizona also held fundraisers during those trips in an apparent attempt to legitimize her campaign money spending.
That is the sudden revelation shared by Daily beast on Sunday in a newly published report exposing Sinema’s campaign money spending over the past four years.
According to the outlet, Sinema’s campaign spent $1,500 in April 2022 on “meeting meals” and “event supplies,” while the senator was in Massachusetts last year to compete in the Boston Marathon.
Sinema’s campaign also reportedly spent an additional $8,740 that same month on “lodging expenses” at an “unspecified Ritz-Carlton Hotel.”
Meanwhile, the independent senator reportedly collected more than $16,000 in campaign contributions while in Boston for the marathon — suggesting that Sinema held some kind of campaign fundraiser while in Massachusetts that month.
Daily Beast further alleged that Sinema used campaign funds to fund several other trips she had taken in recent years to participate in marathons and triathlons, including the Mountains2Beach Marathon in Ventura County, California, in May 2019, the Light at The End of the Tunnel Marathon outside of Seattle, Washington, in June 2021, and another Boston Marathon in October 2021.
But while Sinema reportedly spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for catering, lodging and transportation costs during those trips, she also reportedly collected an average of $20,000 in campaign contributions during each trip.
According to campaign finance experts who spoke to Daily Beast, Sinema has not broken any Federal Election Commission rules by using campaign funds due to the fact that she collected campaign funds during the trips – but at least one expert acknowledged that Sinema “broadens the gray area” of the FEC rules by “appearing to link legitimate campaign activity to unrelated personal pursuits.” “
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“It’s generally fine to put some personal activities on a fundraising trip,” Brendan Fischer, the deputy executive director of watchdog group Documented told the outlet. “But this seems to be the reverse: tying fundraisers to personal travel to justify using campaign funds to cover costs.”
“The FEC generally won’t monitor this kind of spending,” he explained. “But at the same time, I doubt FEC commissioners would declare that a candidate can travel anywhere with donor funds as long as they ask another donor for more money.”
