Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been accused of using campaign funds to splurge on travel expenses for trips to Europe , Japan, Aspen and “California wine country.”
The Democrat-turned-independent “illegally” used the money to pay for chartered domestic and international flights, hotels, personal meals, and catering that “appear unrelated to any campaign or official business,” according to a government watchdog group.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit organization, made the accusations in a complaint filed last week with the Federal Election Commission, which has been urged to refer the case to the Department of Justice.
According to the group, Sinema “appears” to have violated criminal law and election rules by using campaign funds for “personal” reasons.
“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (‘CREW’) brings this complaint before the Federal Election Commission seeking an immediate investigation and enforcement action against Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and her principal campaign committee, Sinema for Arizona, for apparent direct and serious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” according to the lawsuit.
“FECA prohibits political campaign committees from using campaign funds for personal purposes if the expenses ‘would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign.'”
Senator Sinema appears to have used her campaign committee’s financial support rather than other sources of funding to pay for her personal travel, which existed regardless of her government service or Senate campaign.”
According to the watchdog group, what makes Sinema’s case stand out even more is that she announced her decision not to run for reelection in March, “exactly eight months before Election Day, and before Sinema for Arizona disbursed over $100,000 for what appear to be personal travel expenses,” the complaint states.
“Sinema for Arizona received no contributions, other than one unitemized dollar, after disbursing these funds,” the complaint contends. “The Commission must enforce FECA in light of what appear to be flagrant and serious violations of the law.”
According to campaign finance reports obtained by the Arizona Republic, Sinema, Arizona’s first female senator, billed approximately $216,000 for travel between July and September, with an additional $152,000 for security-related expenses. It’s unclear why or when she went on her trips, but they were expensive.
A reported trip to Boston, for example, resulted in at least nine travel-related disbursements totaling $7,990.57 to vendors unrelated to any fundraising, campaign, or official business, according to the CREW complaint.
She allegedly spent $522.92 at Davio’s Catering in Boston, $218.29 at Bocellis in Medford, Massachusetts, $307.00 at Nash Bar & Stage in Boston, $605.04 at Grill 23 & Bar in Boston, $3,640.24 at Davio’s Catering in Boston, $450.02 at Star Market Company, Inc. in West Bridgewater, and $2,075.04 at the Empire restaurant and lounge in Boston, among other expenses.
“During July and early August of 2024, following the Senator’s trip to Boston, Sinema for Arizona made disbursements supporting travel and events in Sonoma, California and Aspen, Colorado, among other locations,” according to the suit.
“In July through September 2024, Sinema for Arizona made at least sixteen travel related disbursements in California and Colorado totalling $15,014.66 in the late summer which appear unrelated to any fundraising or official business.”
According to the Arizona Republic, Sinema’s other trips and expenses included attending the Paris Olympics in August and traveling to Tokyo.
In London, she reportedly spent $4,500 on lodging, a car service, and meetings, with Thai and Indian meals catered by local restaurants. She reportedly spent $800 on train tickets alone during that trip. She allegedly spent more than $3,000 in Italy.
“The rule of thumb is that any dollar your campaign spends has to be for the campaign — it can’t just be for your own personal benefit,” said CREW president Noah Bookbinder in an announcement. “It’s hard to see how any of this spending was for the benefit of the campaign.”
Sinema, whose term expires on January 3, was investigated last year for campaign spending after being accused in a similar complaint filed with the FEC by the Change for Arizona 2024 political action committee, also known as the “Replace Sinema” group.
While it is unclear what happened with the ethics complaint, political experts and Sinema supporters have told AZFamily that it and other allegations have “never been found with merit.”
“This tracks with a number of other complaints,” political strategist Stacy Pearson told the local outlet in an interview last week, following Sinema’s Senate farewell speech, which occurred on the same day the CREW complaint was filed.
“Complaints about campaign finance have not resulted in significant consequences,” said Matt Grodsky, another strategist. “It would be a different story if she were remaining in the Senate.”
Sinema and her team could not be reached for comment Friday or Saturday because they had been out of the office since December 20.
