Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced she would not seek reelection in March but her campaign continued to spend over $100,000 on trips and meals in the ensuing months.
A new campaign finance report, filed Oct. 14, shows the campaign spent over $650,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, including over $142,000 on airfare, hotels and meals.
The campaign spent nearly $50,000 on airfare alone during that time. And though the campaign finance reports do not include information where Sinema flew on those flights, the locations of the hotels she stayed provide a clue as to where she has been traveling.
According to the report, Sinema’s campaign spent nearly $71,000 to stay at a number of hotels in California, Arizona and abroad, including the luxury Tokyo Edition Hotel in Japan; the five-star Nobu Hotel London Portman Square; and the Castel de Très Girard in France.
Sinema also stayed at the Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon; Rosewood Sand Hill in California’s Silicon Valley; the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah; and the St. Regis Aspen Resort in Colorado — among others.
The campaign also spent nearly $21,000 on meals and catering, including $1,300 at Nobu in Tokyo and $1,100 at Jardin d'Hiver in Paris.
Sinema’s campaign and office did not respond to a request to comment on the nature of those trips.
According to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization, federal law prohibits the personal use of campaign funds, whether a candidate is running for office or forgoing reelection like Sinema.
“That means it would be illegal for Sen. Sinema to use campaign money to pay for personal travel, meals, events or entertainment,” said Saurav Ghosh, CLC’s director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform, in a statement.
Ghosh said Sinema could hold onto those funds for a future campaign or use the money to wind down the existing campaign, refund donors or donate to charity.
"The ‘personal use’ prohibition is crucial to keeping elected officials accountable to voters and their donors,” Ghosh said.
After officially forgoing reelection on March 5, Sinema’s campaign reported in July it refunded around $4 million in campaign contributions, the Arizona Republic reported.
In its most recent report, Sinema’s campaign reported it refunded $5,150 in contributions and paid fundraising consultant Fulkerson Kennedy & Company over $100,000 in July, August and September. The campaign also paid $80,000 to Premium Seats USA LLC — a company that specializes in VIP event ticket packages — for a “donor thank you event.”
