As we reported previously, America’s richest politician loves to travel large on the taxpayer’s dime. Now, the Gillespie campaign has released a clever new video lampooning Mark Warner’s penchant for publicly-funded plush private planes:
A Gillespie campaign press release had this to say about the Senator’s Air Warner habit, and what it reveals about the man’s tendency to campaign in an entirely different way than he governs:
Speaking about Mark Warner’s chartered plane habit, Gillespie spokesman Paul Logan said, “It’s telling that after dozens of reports on Mark Warner’s taxpayer-funded luxury air travel, when cheaper options were available and Tim Kaine didn’t charter a single flight last year, that Mark Warner continues to defend the practice. This is another example of Mark Warner saying one thing regarding fiscal discipline and doing something else.”
In his first TV ad in 2008, Mark Warner said he would cut spending and “clean up the mess in Washington.”
In his first speech on the floor of the Senate in 2009, Warner called for a, “line-by-line review of the federal budget to identify waste and fraud.”
In 2010 press release, he called for federal agencies to, “aggressively look for more ways to save taxpayer money”
He told the Free Lance-Star in 2011, “We will ask of everyone to put a little skin in the game,” when it comes to reducing spending.
In Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony in 2012, Warner said, “The public deserves to know in detail how each federal dollar is spent and it’s our job to ensure that these funds are used effectively and efficiently.”
In a press release in 2013, he said, “in this tough economic climate, we should be doing all we can to ensure that taxpayers and policymakers can follow the money to hold our government more accountable.”
In a press release this year, Mark Warner said, “I promise to keep working in the Senate to continue to hold the federal government accountable for waste, fraud, and inefficiency, and give the taxpayers the transparency they deserve.”
My favorite hypocritical line from Warner when looking at his blatant abuse of the taxpayer? “[W]e should take every opportunity to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely.” Yes, Senator, that we should.
