Previous Claims Did Not Tell Whole Story, Still Refuses To Take Responsibility
After claiming for ten days that she had failed to disclose – for five years – 143 campaign contributions totaling $276,985.46, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) campaign now admits that the number of undisclosed donors is actually much higher. In other words, they have confirmed exactly what Republicans have been saying.
As the Springfield News-Leader reported this morning:
The GOP’s main issue is that news reports said the changes involved just 143 new donors. But she reported $245,000 in un-itemized contributions, which are supposed to be donations of less than $200. That means that money came from at least 1,200 people. A spokeswoman said the 143 number referred to the number of people who donated more than $200 in the past five years — and it did not include those un-itemized donors.
But that’s not what McCaskill’s operatives claimed when they dumped the story late on a Friday. As the St. Louis Beacon reported at the time:
Overall, McCaskill’s campaign said it was filing amendments that added 143 contributions…
“Just like when she was forced to admit that she charged taxpayers for political travel on her private plane, Senator McCaskill is once again changing her story, this time regarding her failure to report $277,000 in federal campaign dollars for five years,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond. “As she struggles to distract voters from her support for the Obama agenda and her failure to pay more than $300,000 in taxes on her private aircraft, this latest episode is yet another reminder that members of the media will need to closely scrutinize every one of Claire McCaskill’s claims leading up to the 2012 election.”
To review…
- On Friday, July 15th, McCaskill’s campaign themselves claimed that they had failed to disclose – for five years – 143 contributions totaling $276,985.46.
- $276,985.46 divided by 143 contributions would show an average contribution of approximately $1,937. $200 is the threshold at which donors were required by law to have been disclosed.
- Now, eleven days later – and only after the Missouri GOP pointed out that her math simply does not add up – McCaskill’s campaign is changing their story, claiming that the 143 number was only a portion of the numerous contributions they failed to disclose for five years.
Notably, the former State Auditor still refuses to take responsibility for her latest egregious mistake, and – after failing to correct these legally required records for five years – continues to blame the errors on “the fact that money was coming in quickly and McCaskill’s top campaign finance aide was killed in a plane crash in July 2006.”
McCaskill’s misleading claims are just the latest in a growing string of ethical flaps and hypocritical rhetoric plaguing the embattled incumbent…
AIR CLAIRE TIMELINE
2004 – McCaskill attacked her opponent in the Democrat primary for Governor for using taxpayer dollars to fly around on a private airplane. (David Catanese, “McCaskill Attacked Plane Use In ‘04 Campaign,” Politco’s David Catanese Blog, www.politico.com, Posted 3/21/11)
July 2006 – Timesaver LLC is incorporated in Delaware by Joe Shepard as an “aircraft dry lessor.” (Scott Wong & John Bresnahan, “Claire McCaskill To Pay Back Taxes On Plane,” Politico, 3/21/11)
September 2006 – McCaskill ran an ad in her Senate race where she looks into the camera and says: “we have paid every dime of our taxes.” (Ben Smith, “An Ad McCaskill Won’t Run Again,” Politico’s Ben Smith Blog, www.politico.com, Posted 3/22/11)
2007 – McCaskill charges taxpayers $25,000 in her first year in the Senate for flights on her private airplane. (Report Of The Secretary Of The Senate, Expenditures For Office Of Senator Claire McCaskill, 1/1/07 — 1/1/08)
May 2008 – McCaskill’s 2007 personal financial disclosure is filed and shows between $50,000 and $100,000 in rental income from Timesaver LLC. (Office Of The Secretary Of The Senate, Personal Financial Disclosure For Claire McCaskill, 5/15/08)
January 2010 – McCaskill Said “I’m A Former Auditor. I Care Very Much About How We Spend The Public’s Money.” MCCASKILL: “Well, this has been a lonely fight. I came to the Senate in 2007 and immediately saw how screwed up the process of earmarking was and said, I’m not going to participate. I’m a former auditor. I care very much about how we spend the public’s money.” (Fox News’ “On The Record With Greta Van Susteren,” 11/17/10)
February 2011 – McCaskill co-sponsors senate legislation that would fire federal employees if they are ‘seriously delinquent’ in paying their own federal taxes. (Scott Wong & John Bresnahan, “Claire McCaskill To Pay Back Taxes On Plane,” Politico, 3/21/11)
March 9, 2011 – McCaskill announces she will return $88,000 to the U.S. Treasury after reporters questioned why she was using taxpayer dollars to pay for travel on her private aircraft. (Scott Wong and John Bresnahan, “McCaskill To Return $88K To Treasury,” Politico, 3/9/11)
· McCaskill Only Made The Payment For The Flights After The Press Discovered The Scandal. “McCaskill paid the Treasury Department more than $88,000 after POLITICO first reported she had used taxpayer dollars to pay for nearly 90 flights on a private charter plane co-owned by McCaskill, her husband and other investors.” (Ben Smith, “McCaskill Plane Woes Deepen,” Politico’s Ben Smith Blog, www.politico.com, Posted 3/21/11)
March 9, 2011 – McCaskill’s spokeswoman says that neither McCaskill nor her family has profited off of the plane. (Scott Wong and John Bresnahan, “McCaskill To Return $88K To Treasury,” Politico, 3/9/11)
March 9, 2011 – “McCaskill’s Office Said All The Flights Were Legal And Followed Senate Ethics Rules.” (Scott Wong and John Bresnahan, “McCaskill To Return $88K To Treasury,” Politico, 3/9/11)
March 10, 2011 – It is discovered that one of McCaskill’s flights she billed taxpayers was purely political in nature - A violation of Senate ethics rules. (Ben Smith, “Exclusive: McCaskill Billed, Repaid Taxpayers For Political Flights,” Politico’s Ben Smith Blog, www.politico.com, Posted 3/10/11)
- “On Saturday, March 3, 2007 She Flew From St. Louis To Hannibal, MO, And Back, For The Local Democratic Party’s Annual Hannibal Days.” (Ben Smith, “Exclusive: McCaskill Billed, Repaid Taxpayers For Political Flights,” Politico’s Ben Smith Blog, www.politico.com, Posted 3/10/11)
March 16, 2011 – McCaskill holds a press conference call where she argues that it is critical for information to be a public record when taxpayer money is involved: “The payments were a public record. This was all out in the bright sunshine for anyone to see. And so, that’s a good thing. . . . The key is, if public dollars are involved, it needs to be transparent.” (Senator Claire McCaskill Radio Conference Call, 3/16/11)
March 21, 2011 – McCaskill announces that she failed to pay over $287,000 in taxes on the airplane. (Yael T. Abouhalkah, “McCaskill’s Credibility Crashes And Burns,” The Kansas City Star, 3/21/11)
March 21, 2011 – McCaskill said her family would sell the plane. “I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane,” she [McCaskill] said Monday. “He has hired a broker. And I will never step foot on the plane again.” (Malia Rulon, “McCaskill Didn’t Pay $287,000 In Taxes On Private Plane,” Springfield News-Leader, 3/21/11)
March 23, 2011 – It is announced that McCaskill’s delinquent tax bill is actually over $320,000. (Jake Wagman, “McCaskill’s Final Airplane Bill Could Include $80,000 In Interest,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/23/11)
March 24, 2011 – The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that six Rockwood middle school teachers, 10 counselors and four driver education teachers will need to be fired because of budget shortfalls. (Elizabethe Holland, “Illinois Teachers Feeling The Pinch Of Layoffs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/24/11)
March 24, 2011 – It is reported the Rockwood School District will receive over $175,000 when McCaskill pays her delinquent taxes. (Phil Sutin, “Rockwood School District to benefit from McCaskill’s paying tax on plane,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 3/24/11)
March 25, 2011 – McCaskill is asked whether she will release the taxes for Sunset Cove and Timesaver and says “I understand the point you are making and it is a point that is made around here too.” (McCaskill Radio Interview, “Allman In The Morning,” Channel 97, 3/25/11)
March 28, 2011: McCaskill Said She “Got The Problem Fixed Very Quickly.” “‘I found the problem, I owned the problem and I got the problem fixed very quickly,’ she said. ‘There are a lot of people I could blame for this, but I know better.’” (A. G. Sulzberger, “For A Missouri Senator, Comeuppance Comes With Wings And A Big Tax Bill,” The New York Times, 3/28/11)
7:15 PM On Friday, July 15, 2011 – St. Louis Beacon reported McCaskill filed amendments to old finance reports to include trips that should have originally been reported as in-kind contributions to her campaign, but were not reported. McCaskill’s campaign spokeswoman said this was “simply a matter of tying up loose ends . . . .” (Jo Mannies, “McCaskill Files Barrage Of Finance Amendments Along With New Campaign Tallies,” St. Louis Beacon, 7/15/11)
July 18, 2011 – McCaskill’s Plane Is Still Registered To Timesaver LLC And Has Not Been Sold. (FAA Website, http://registry.faa.gov, Accessed 7/18/11; Jo Mannies, “McCaskill Files Barrage Of Finance Amendments Along With New Campaign Tallies,” St. Louis Beacon, 7/15/11)
July 19, 2011 – Politico reports that McCaskill ““failed to account for 143 contributions in the ‘06 cycle, totaling nearly $277,000,” “also missed about $277,000 in disbursements,” and “filed four amendments to account for instances where she personally paid for plane trips that included a political event for her 2012 campaign. FEC rules require self-funded political travel to be listed as an “in-kind contribution,” but McCaskill had not previously reported the trips.” (Scott Wong, “Claire McCaskill amends FEC filings,” Politico, 7/19/11)
July 25, 2011 – The Missouri Republican party points out that McCaskill’s “math does not work.” (David Catanese, “MoGOP questions McCaskill’s math,” Politico, 7/25/11)
July 26, 2011 – The News-Leader reports that McCaskill’s campaign now says “the 143 number referred to the number of people who donated more than $200 in the past five years — and it did not include those un-itemized donors.” (Roseann Moring, “State GOP files FEC complaint against McCaskill,” Springfield News-Leader, 7/26/11)
