Air Hillary
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign trips to New York aboard government aircraft have cost taxpayers more than $1 million, according to White House records that congressional Republicans released Monday.
The data show the first lady took 93 such trips from June 1999 through August 2000 at an estimated cost of $1.22 million. Her campaign reimbursed $184,995, or 15 percent of the total, records show.
The Democratic nominee in the New York Senate race flies on government aircraft at the request of the Secret Service. She reimburses the government the same way presidential candidates do: at the rate of a first-class commercial ticket. That is well below the actual cost of her travel. For example, a C-20, on which she sometimes travels, costs an estimated $3,705 per hour to fly.
The practice is legal but has been criticized by Republicans.
The flight figures come amid questions about whether supporters to Clinton's Senate bid were rewarded with overnight stays at Camp David or the White House and with trips on government aircraft.
The White House is preparing to release a list of guests who stayed at the White House and Camp David but not the dates of their stays, spokesman Jake Siewert said Monday.
The Clinton administration was criticized after President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign for inviting big donors to spend the night at the White House, though he denied accommodations were offered as rewards for contributions.
There are no plans at present to release names of those who have traveled on the first lady's aircraft, officials said, prompting criticism from the campaign of Rick Lazio, her opponent for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Senate seat.
"It's shenanigans like this, toying with the truth, that cause Mrs. Clinton such severe credibility problems," said Dan McLagan, a Lazio spokesman.
The first lady, campaigning Monday in Manhattan, refused to comment.
"I'm just happy to be here talking about the issues," she said after speaking at a $300,000 fund-raiser for New York Democratic elected women.
Lissa Muscatine, candidate Clinton's White House spokeswoman, said travel costs for any guest not on official business with the first lady must be reimbursed. Her campaign must reimburse the Treasury for the travel costs of her campaign staff, for example.
New York Assemblyman Michael Bragman and his family hitched a ride to Washington on the first lady's plane last December, according to Bragman spokeswoman Laura Pechaitis, who did not know if the travel was reimbursed.
Bragman has not donated to the first lady's campaign but is one of her more prominent upstate New York supporters.
The White House has provided the first lady's travel information under pressure from Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. He is chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees White House spending. In March he held a hearing on the first lady's travel and directed the White House to provide monthly expense reports.