Senator Rockefeller flys privates jets but bills the cost to taxpayers ~ News Forage

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“Why how dare the author take issue with an exalted member of the Rockefeller clan sticking it to the public. He can’t possibly think this icon of wealth and power should travel like us common folk, that would be insulting and undignified :)” Admin

Sen. Jay Rockefeller comes from one of America’s wealthiest families and represents a state only 60 miles from the District of Columbia, yet he travels home almost exclusively via private charter plane at $4,400 per trip and sends the bill to taxpayers.

There are as many as six commercial flights a day between D.C. and Charleston, W.Va., the city Rockefeller flies to and from. A round-trip ticket for the one-hour flight costs as little as $206.

Rockefeller’s aversion to traveling as most other Americans do may be somewhat ironic, as he is chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over transportation issues.

The travel costs he billed to taxpayers over the past three years were greater than all but 11 senators, including those from Alaska, Washington state, Montana and other far-flung locales, a Washington Examiner analysis of Senate travel records reveals.

But Rockefeller also left his Capitol Hill trappings to mingle with West Virginia residents fewer than 11 times per year, even though his home state is only an hour away.

That means Rockefeller goes home less often than nearly every other member of Congress, yet his total travel costs are among the highest, all despite representing a state that on a clear day can almost be seen from the Capitol dome.

Read More  Senator Rockefeller flys privates jets but bills the cost to taxpayers ~ News Forage.