Rather than beat a soon to be dead "airplane," let's examine what some sources discussing Claire McCaskill's less than truthful adventures.
Senator McCaskill's hidden trips
Americans for Limited Government has discovered that Senator Claire McCaskill not only hid her ownership of a private aircraft from Missouri tax collectors, but also hid its comings and goings from the American public.When a private plane takes off or lands in the United States, the FAA publicly releases the flight data in real time. For Washington Redskins fans, that is how the media can track when Redskins 1 takes to the air after the latest high profile, soon to be bust, free agent football player.
- The tracking data on Sen. McCaskill's plane courtesy of FlightAware.com. Click to expand image.
With the remake of WonderWoman looming, maybe the Senator was just trying to get in the spirit by keeping her plane invisible to both Missouri tax collectors and the American public. An invisible plane is a whole new spin on transparency, although I doubt it is what most people assume she means by the term.
Claire McCaskill’s Tax Problems Go Far Beyond ‘AirClaire’
by Publius, BigGovernment.com: So, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill ‘forgot’ to pay property taxes on her private jet. (There are at least three things wrong with that sentence.) But, her ‘oversight’ in ‘forgetting’ about a $300,000 tax bill is just the latest example of her pattern of tax problems and obfuscation. The document below details a multi-decade pattern of an apparent belief that laws are for ‘the other people’, not important elected officials like herself. (Oh, and did we mention that one of her husband’s properties was used repeatedly as a crack house?) Behold what has become of the stewards of our Republic.
McCaskill Pre-Shepard Personal and Finance Section
'Claire Air': How Bad Is It For McCaskill?
By Evan McMorris-Santoro, TPMDC: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) attempted to bring an end to the series of bad stories about her air travel on a conference call with reporters yesterday. "I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane," she said. "He has hired a broker, and I can tell you I will never set foot on the plane again." . . .
A quick backgrounder of the scandal so far:
On March 9, Politico reported McCaskill had charged taxpayers for 89 flights she took on the plane she owns. Though it's not rare for senators to charter flights for official business, and it's a common and accepted practice for senators to charge the government for those flights, McCaskill sent the Treasury $88,000 to cover the cost of the flights after Politico asked about them.
Then it was discovered that at least one of the flights was a political trip and definitely should not have been paid for with taxpayer money. McCaskill said she was "embarrassed." Which is also what she said yesterday when she revealed that she failed to pay close to $287,000 in personal property taxes on the plane.
McCaskill also said she has attorneys looking for more political travel on the official flight list. So far, they've found some.
Adding to the political peril for McCaskill: Her very public record of taking others to task for transgressions with strikingly similar overtones.
• De Planes! De Planes! In 2009, McCaskill was on the warpath over runaway Congressional spending. Her main target? A small fleet of business jets the House Appropriations Committee authorized the Air Force to buy for "ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress."
"Talk about the wrong message at the wrong time," McCaskill said at the time. "While American families are tightening their belts there is no way we should be buying extra executive jets. No wonder so many people think we don't get it. . . . [Full Story with Videos]
Tags: Claire McCaskill, Scandal, Claire McCaskill's Plane Problem, FAA, Senator Claire McCaskill, Transparency, U.S. Senate, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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