Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) apparently attended the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, over the weekend, using taxpayer funds for the trip.
Her public calendar noted that on Saturday April 13 “Mayor Bowser will travel to Augusta, Georgia, as part of a sports and economic development visit.”
A Fox News report on Thursday highlighted the fact that the tournament took place over 500 miles away from D.C.
The outlet continued:
A spokesperson confirmed to DC News Now that the airline flights to and from Augusta, Georgia, were paid with city funds, though the cost of the flights was not released.
In a phone call Monday afternoon, Bowser’s Communications Director Susana Castillo confirmed to the local outlet that Bowser was invited to the tournament by two people leading a new city task force, “to revitalize the Gallery Place and Chinatown neighborhood.”
The news comes as residents of Washington, DC, have been suffering under burdensome crime. In October, Breitbart News reported the area saw a sharp rise in murders over 2023, and carjackings skyrocketed 110 percent.
In November, Bowser declared a public emergency in D.C. due to a rise in opioid fatalities and juvenile crime, according to Breitbart News:
Crime soared in 2022 after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves refused to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested. In turn, 222 criminal homicides occurred in 2023, a 35 percent increase from the same period in 2022, according to police statistics. The district eclipsed 200 killings on August 12, the earliest point since the late 1990s.
D.C. currently ranks 173 in safety on a list of 182 American cities, sinking from 168 last year, according to a study released in October by WalletHub.
According to an NBC News report from February, D.C. experienced a 39 percent rise in violent crime. Police union officials have pointed the finger of blame at local leaders.
“We’re short 500 police officers. It puts us all in danger,” one official told reporters:
It is also important to note that D.C. spent over $270,000 of taxpayers’ money to repaint Black Lives Matter Plaza after the city’s leadership slashed the police department’s 2023 budget, Breitbart News reported in November.