Did former Senator Krysten Sinema go on an end of year status run for Marriott Ambassador before her term expired? She spent over $20,000 of campaign cash on a single hotel stay at a Marriott property in Saudi Arabia right before the election (that she wasn’t running in).
Perhaps nobody enjoyed the perks of using donated campaign cash on travel as much as the former one-term Senator from Arizona. Halfway through her term she became an independent. The expectation was she’d avoid a Democratic primary this way, since the once-liberal firebrand had moved to the center while in office. She had plenty of money on hands in her campaign coffers, and she kept spending it on travel – even as she was no longer campaigning.
Sinema also used campaign funds to pay about $2800 for private car service in Paris before the election and $1900 for private car service in London after the election
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) February 1, 2025
She’s spoken publicly against Saudi Arabia about “torture and capital punishment against the LGBTQ community” and called for “a very strict stance” against the country for killing Jamal Khashoggi. Maybe she was campaigning for votes against the Saudi regime while in-country?
She spent $900,000 from her campaign for security detail expenses in 2024. Her leadership PAC also paid for security expenses. Her security consultant, by the way, is Tulsi Gabbard’s sister who may be making progress towards Marriott spend-based status as well? “In 2022, Sinema’s campaigns spent over $56,000 for security detail lodging at Marriott hotels alone.”
Maybe Sinema was making a run at Cobalt?
She’s known to be an American AAdvantage Executive Platinum member. Her campaign disclosures show 49 American Airlines charges in the second half of 2024 – mostly for airfare, but also for inflight wifi. She’s paying for a monthly multi-device subscription. She’s also paying for inflight wifi access on Delta. And her campaign makes payment on a Barclays credit card, which is presumably an AAdvantage Aviator co-brand. She also has a Chase card though it’s not clear if that’s a Marriott co-brand.
The former Senator’s campaign still had about $5 million cash at the end of September and no election to run. It wass like Brewster’s Millions. She could spend it on travel, but couldn’t have ‘stuff’ left after leaving office to be converted to personal use. So she couldn’t buy United’s Global Services with prepaid travel. And she probably couldn’t just spend it all on GHA Discovery Dollars to use on hotel stays later.
Don’t fear for her though, because she was able to use the leftover money to create a political action committee, and leverage that for ongoing (travel) expenses. That’s important because she is very particular about her travels. She likes room temperature bottled water available at all times (honestly, so do I). She likes a weekly hour-long massage. She wants to avoid flying Southwest though they’re a huge carrier in her home state and asks staffers to pick her preferred seats (also reasonable).
Should have staying at Hyatts and going for lifetime Globalist.
Kinda sounds like the mayor of South Fulton, GA, the mayor of Dolton, Illinois, mayor of New York, and a couple of others!
Are campaign contribution laws really this lenient allowing politicians to use funds beyond what they were originally raised for? Shouldn’t this be illegal and/or be enforced by some regulatory body so as to keep our politicians honest (at least with campaign funds)?
This should not surprise anyone. These laws are written by the people who will benefit from them the most. What happened to all the donated funds for the sitting president’s inauguration?
How does that surprise anyone? Dem politicians are the most corrupted group of anyone!
The difference is this last 4 yrs has cost 100’s of Americans their lives, so Now u wake up
I’d soil some hotel sheets with her.
How do you spend $20,000 at a mid-level hotel in Saudi Arabia?
Senator Sinema is yet another example of the corruption and bad taste that has become a hallmark of this sad era.
Kyrsten betrayed her party and her constituents in favor of special interests and her own personal greed.
She knew better. She had humble beginnings as a social worker. The money and power clearly changed her.
All for what? For AA/Marriott status? Massages? Pathetic. To funnel money to the Saudis? Disgusting. Shame!
All I can say about Krysten Sinema is “good riddance.” What a two-faced sell-out. I have to think everyone who sent her all that cash have to be furious.
PAC and other political donations are the the method pur political leaders have devised to legalize bribery.
Most could write a book “How to Live Like a Billionaire on Someone Else”
Right Bill, she and Manchin did a lot of damage that they happily walked away from. Reminds me of someone else too who is still in office, acting like an angry 5 year old with a box of matches…. But Citizens United has corrupted the whole system, bringing so much money in that nothing gets done without a payoff. It’s sad that people actually pay attention to political advertising as a way of “learning about the issues”, and sadder that everyone running for office is begging for more and more of it, but making up one’s mind and having the guts to stand up for what they believe has become a joke in Washington and the statehouses.