Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) was the model good-government candidate when she ran for Congress in 2008. A new report from Maine Watchdog casts doubt on that image.
Pingree, former president of Common Cause, was spotted using a chartered jet — the exact type of travel she criticized before winning her seat in Congress.
Maine Watchdog, an independent news outlet affiliated with the Franklin Center, has video of Pingree disembarking from the airplane at Portland International Jetport. It also has a photo of her leaving the airport. A map details her travel up and down the East Coast.
Pingree spokesman Willy Ritch acknowledged the congresswoman’s use of the private jet, but disputed that it is owned by Paloma Partners, a billion dollar hedge fund. Pingree’s significant other, Donald Sussman, is the company’s founder and chairman.
“Most of the time Chellie travels home to Maine on a commercial flight but sometimes travels with her partner of three years Donald Sussman,” Ritch wrote in a statement. “Donald and Chellie live together in Maine and Washington and when they travel together, they fly on a plane personally owned by Donald — it is not ‘corporate owned’ — and no taxpayer resources are used for those trips.”
Maine Watchdog contrasted Pingree’s use of the jet with her earlier statements on the issue. In her capacity as president and CEO of Common Cause, she testified before Congress in 2006 about members of Congress who fly on corporate jets.
“Most Americans never have and never will fly on a chartered jet, much less a fancy corporate jet complete with wet bar and leather couches,” she said to the House Constitution Subcommittee. “So when members of Congress constantly fly around on corporate jets and pay only the cost of a commercial ticket, it contributes to the corrosive public perception that members of Congress are more like the fat cats of Wall Street than they are like the rest of us.”
Pingree also supported an ethics-reform law that would have banned privately funded travel for lawmakers. She called a weaker version “window dressing.”
Her spokesman said Pingree made sure she was not in violation of ethics rules before traveling on the jet.
“When Chellie was elected to Congress, she checked with the House Ethics Committee and they assured her that, because Donald is her partner, the travel is allowable under House Rules and does not need to be reported,” Ritch said. “Any travel on commercial flights that is reimbursed by taxpayers is fully reported and the statements and descriptions of expenses can be seen online.”
The Sunlight Foundation has made available a House Expenditure Reports Database.
Ritch suggested that the accusations against Pingree were an attempt to smear Sussman:
Let’s be clear about the facts of this story: It’s not about a Member of Congress traveling with corporate lobbyists on a company-owned plane. This is about Chellie traveling home to Maine with the man she lives with and is in a long-term relationship with. Chellie has done nothing that violates ethics laws or House rules.
Donald has a long-term commitment to Maine, has been a strong supporter of numerous causes throughout the state and is a Maine resident and taxpayer. For three years, every opponent of Chellie’s has attacked her because of her relationship with him and this is the latest attempt to go after her through Donald.
Rob Bluey directs the Center for Media and Public Policy, an investigative journalism operation at The Heritage Foundation.
