NRSC Agrees That “If Public Dollars Are Involved It Needs To Be Transparent,” Again Presses Incumbent To Live Up To Own Standard

Yesterday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) pointed to 10 key questions that remain unanswered in the wake of reports that U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) billed taxpayers for travel on her personal aircraft, including for at least one purely political trip, which her office had initially and vehemently denied.

Yet, during her weekly press conference call yesterday, Missouri’s senior Senator still refused to come clean with Missourians by providing detailed information regarding the additional 88 flights for which she billed taxpayers, and releasing the tax returns for the two companies affiliated with her private plane in order to verify her claim that neither she nor her family profited from the arrangement.

Notably, during that same conference call, McCaskill said: “The key is if public dollars are involved it needs to be transparent.” The NRSC fully agrees with that statement, and today called on McCaskill once again to live up to her own standards.

Since 10 questions proved to be overwhelming for McCaskill, a self-styled champion of transparency, we hope she will at least focus on answering these two…

1. In 2007, you charged the taxpayers over $25,000 to reimburse your travel on your private plane, which is registered through a shell company in Delaware. In the same year, your personal financial disclosure indicated that you made between $50,000 and $100,000 in profit from that same company. If you are going to continue to maintain that you did not earn a profit from Sunset Cove Associates, the parent shell company of Delaware-based shell company, Timesaver LLC, will you release the tax returns of these two entities? If not, why not?

2. Last week, your office said none of these 89 taxpayer-funded flights were improper, but we now know that statement is also false. Will you release detailed information on these other 88 flights for which you billed taxpayers? If not, why not?

In reporting on Senator McCaskill’s continued failure to disclose basic information to support her claims, we hope you’ll consider the following statement from the NRSC:

“When it comes to transparency and accountability, why does Senator McCaskill still refuse to match her rhetoric with actions? She insists neither she nor her husband profited from charging taxpayers for travel on their private jet – but her own financial disclosures say otherwise and she refuses to open up the books to prove her claim. And even after the media proved she did in fact improperly charge taxpayers for purely political travel, which she previously denied, McCaskill still won’t release information on the other 88 flights. It’s time for Claire McCaskill to stop the hypocrisy, practice what she preaches and show Missourians some evidence.” – Chris Bond, NRSC Press Secretary