Air Pelosi: Selling Out Near You
congress, Culture 11:25 PM
You've heard it before. Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Liberals want to spend your money on their own luxuries. But is it true?
In short, yes.
But before we ask ourselves who Her Royal Majesty thinks she is, let us ask ourselves, for what purpose does Madame Speaker require the HMS Pelosi?
To be fair, the speaker of the house has been allowed use of military jets as opposed to having to fly commercially since the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. But it's Pelosi's use and abuse of the system that has raised eyebrows, especially in contrast to the speaker's message of responsibility and accountability in government.
The speaker has allegedly used the jet to attend personal business, a funeral in Ohio, a flight to Michigan, a meeting in Iraq, and many trips back and forth to her Bay-area district (where United Airlines, a struggling airline, maintains a hub).
According to the website hispanicbusiness.com, Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group, has obtained documents from the Department of Defense that itemize her many requests to use Air Force aircraft for travel as well as the use of additional planes as military escorts. More so, Pelosi often canceled her military travel arrangements just minutes before her flight was scheduled to depart. A DOD official referred to this routine practice as "hidden late fees," due to the large staff needed to prep the plane, prepare meals, and more, that still was paid despite the Speaker's lack of attendance.
"Taken together, these documents show that Speaker Pelosi treats the Air Force like her personal airline," said President Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, an organization that aims to promote government transparency. "Not only does Speaker Pelosi issue unreasonable requests for military travel, but her office seems unconcerned about wasting taxpayer money with last-minute cancellations and other demands."
What's next for Nancy Pelosi, and will this be a trend in the "New Era of Accountability" promised by President Obama and the speaker herself? If so, you'll hear about it on Drawnlines.
Posted by Nick Stone
on 11:25 PM.
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Nick, I'm not sure if you were paying attention when this story was in the news back in 2006, but it was a minor story then and is even more irrelevent now.
The Speaker of the House is 3rd in line to the Presidency. It is understandable to assume that the person in that role would be afforded some extra security. Both Speaker Hastert and Speaker Pelosi traveled on private jets to and from their district as part of this security plan.
While it seems fair to use a graphic showing Pelosi's big huge jet compared to Hastert's smaller plane, there is a perfectly logical reason.
When she became speaker and it became clear she would now be traveling in government aircraft, the smaller plane that was traditionally used was only a regional jet and could not make the cross-country trek needed to get her to and from her district with out at least two stops for fuel. Therefore a request was made for a larger aircraft that would accommodate a non-stop journey.
Finally, who is this "conservative watchdog organization" to critize whether she cancels her trips at the last minute? I'm sure Hastert did too. Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House. Seems like there might be some last minute things that come up in the course of her job that require her to change her schedule around.
This post really crossed the line for me. You're just starting to get into pettiness again. It's not cool.
Also, that picture of Obama with the bling is seriously offensive. The man is our President. Show some respect, Nick.
Do a little research from non-"conservative watchdog groups" next time. Thanks a million.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17035721/
Once again, your facts prove to be wrong...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/03/watchdog-group.html
The faithful show up again, and right on schedule! Welcome back, guys! You make this job truly worth doing.
The point of this post was not to say that Nancy Pelosi can't use an Airforce charter if that's what is asked of her for national security purposes. I condeded that point in my blog.
The big point is that now, while we are writing trillion dollar checks from our grandchildren's bank accounts to cover pork spending projects and items right off the liberal Christmas wishlists, in addition to make-work jobs costing millions of dollars a piece to create, that maybe - just maybe we should see how government officials are using our money.
Nancy Pelosi doesn't need a Boeing 757 or a G5 to get to San Francisco. Period. And just to make sure, I asked my pilot friends. That's Grade A, Class 1 Baloney to insist that she would.
And if Denny Hastert took more trips to his district, which is about 1/3 as far as Pelosi's from Washington, then he still saved the tax payers money.
Also, thanks for the vote of confidence. Since you were sitting by my side while I researched for my article, you clearly have any clue what sources I crosschecked before taking fingers to keyboard.
The two articles anonymously posted only assert that the evidence of whether Pelosi took the jet to her district more than Hastert is inconclusive. It also couldn't be further from the point.
Hastert didn't have a temper tantrum when a G-5 wasn't available. Also, this isn't about Hastert. This is about Pelosi, who is the Valedictorian of Schmuck School. Period.
Don't go away for so long! I missed you guys.