A breaking investigation from USA Today reveals that Bayh took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of private charter flights while he was in office – and billed taxpayers for the cost.
“Former Indiana senator Evan Bayh, who is running for a second stint in the Senate, charged taxpayers more than $200,000 for charter flights during his tenure in office, while other Indiana senators avoided private planes, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Senate records.
“Overall, USA TODAY identified at least 131 charters Bayh paid from his Senate office account from 1999 through 2010 totaling $221,000. About a dozen of the flights also included costs for staff riding along. Several other travel charges to Bayh’s office credit card appear to be charter-priced flights, but the details are not provided.” (Karina Shedrofsky and Paul Singer, “As Senator, Indiana’s Bayh Spent Over $200,000 on Taxpayer-Funded Charters,” USA Today, 9/30/16)
Bayh even stuck taxpayers with the bill for a charter flight to Nantucket for a political donor retreat, and repeatedly gamed the system so he could bill his government office for trips that appear to be obviously personal in nature:
“In 2002, Bayh was one of 16 Democratic senators to participate in a weekend retreat with major campaign donors in Nantucket, Mass. Bayh’s campaign paid for one leg of the trip to Nantucket but he used taxpayer funds for his flight back to South Bend, Ind. He delivered a commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, making the flight an official expense, not a campaign expense.
“On the opening day of Memorial Day weekend in 2006, Bayh spent $1,360 on a private jet from Washington to Indianapolis, where he spoke at a high school graduation, before flying to the beach town of Ocean City, Md. The trip was apparently permitted because the costs were not more than a return trip to Washington.” (Karina Shedrofsky and Paul Singer, “As Senator, Indiana’s Bayh Spent Over $200,000 on Taxpayer-Funded Charters,” USA Today, 9/30/16)
Bayh infamously leveraged his political career to get rich as a Washington insider after he left office. But now it’s clear that Bayh also used his taxpayer-funded budget as a personal slush fund to pay for his high-dollar travel expenses. Evan Bayh needs to come clean once and for all with Hoosier voters and admit he’s only in it for himself.