A New York political magazine this week named Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), one of its “biggest losers” of the week on Thursday after financial disclosures revealed the congressman had spent thousands in campaign funds on travel expenses while telling his constituents to stay home.
City & State, a weekly political and government magazine, said the “optics” of him using the funds for travel, specifically after telling his constituents to stay home because of the Chinese coronavirus, were “a little sketch.”
“Do as he says, not as he does,” the magazine wrote.
Maloney reportedly spent thousands on travel last year, going against what he told his constituents about the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, according to financial disclosures.
In March of last year, Maloney urged constituents to “do their part” and “stay at home.”
“Don’t go out if you don’t need to, minimize your contact with other people. If a member of your family is sick, the whole family’s got to stay home so we don’t go spread it, Maloney told WAMC’s Ian Pickus at the time, even suggesting phone or email as the “best” way to check on neighbors.
Washington Free Beacon reported:
Over the next nine months, however, he spent nearly $29,000 on “ground transportation” and “automobile expenses,” financial disclosures show. The disbursements included nearly $20,000 in lease and insurance payments, more than $3,600 in collision repairs, nearly $2,200 in gas, more than $2,100 in rental car fees, and nearly $500 for a satellite radio subscription.
Maloney’s expenses were unusual in his region. Rep. Antonio Delgado (D., N.Y.), for example, did not disclose any car-related expenses in 2020. Delgado’s 19th Congressional District is nearly six times the size of Maloney’s neighboring 18th district. Like Maloney, Delgado pivoted to virtual events during the pandemic. Under U.S. campaign finance law, candidates cannot use donor funds to pay for personal travel.
The City & State concluded about Maloney that there is “nothing inherently unethical here, even if using donor dollars to pay for car insurance seems odd. But the optics are a little sketch.”
The magazine included a poll of its top three “biggest losers,” showing Maloney far out-ranking the other two “biggest losers” at number one. At the time of this writing, Maloney received 84 percent of the responses showing he is the biggest loser, compared to single digits for the other “biggest losers.”
Maloney, the Democrat’s top campaigner, has used his power to help pass far-left radical agenda items. This past week, he announced his support of invoking the nuclear option — or eliminating the filibuster — through an op-ed in the Hill. Maloney argued that “the Senate is choosing gridlock over progress” while the rule remains intact.
In addition, Breitbart News reported Maloney made another big mistake. At the beginning of April, the campaign for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wired $5,000 directly into the campaign accounts of several vulnerable Democrats. The DCCC provided the wire transfer information and account numbers to her team. The DCCC and Ocasio-Cortez apparently did not check with the vulnerable Democrats who got the cash before giving out the wire transfer account information. After Maloney made the mistake, an anonymous House Democrat aide said, “Members are discouraged with him right now.”