Rick Perry's campaign discloses more private jet costs
Rick Perry's presidential campaign on Friday reported nearly $230,000 in new expenses related to private jet use, after a report revealed last month the campaign mistakenly under-paid the owners of the jets.
The campaign reported the expenses to the Federal Election Commission today, including more than $22,000 paid to Waco businessman Brian Pardo and more than $66,000 to Midland Energy CEO Javaid Anwar. Last month, the New York Times reported that Perry's campaign was improperly reimbursing the jet owners.
The campaign said it was calculating the cost of flights based on the percentage of seats used by campaign officials, instead of the full cost of renting a plane as required under the law (the law was tightened a few years ago).
The new expenses were coincidentally reported on the same day the Times reported on Perry's use of private jets in his capacity as governor. Perry took more than 200 flights, worth $1.3 million, in private planes in his 11 years as governor.
Texas law allows public officials to use private planes for official business, and Perry's spokesperson told the Times the governor was trying to save taxpayer dollars. On top of that, the spokesman said Perry makes no promises to a plane's owner in exchange for such flights, nor does he consider the owner's interest in the trip.
