CNN has reported that John McCain's campaign is reimbursing the government $3,000 for the cost of the political portion of his taxpayer-funded trip to Europe and the Middle East. Leaving aside the question of how much the rest of the trip was "political," McCain's reimbursement is reportedly meant to cover airfare, hotel and the cost of a car to his London fundraiser. According to DNC General Counsel Joe Sandler, that falls far short of the amount McCain is required to reimburse.
Please see the following quote from Mr. Sandler:
"The 2007 ethics reform law and the regulations implementing it require that when a candidate mixes campaign and official travel when using a government plane, the campaign travelers must reimburse the government for the full cost of an equivalent round trip charter flight. Reasonable estimates place the cost of a one-way charter flight from Washington to London at between $20,000 and $56,000. As a result, McCain's stated intention to reimburse the federal government $3,000 almost certainly falls far short of what the law requires."
KEY FACTS:
FLIGHT HOURS: Approximately SEVEN
FLIGHT LENGTH: 3,195 nautical miles [http://www.convertunits.com/distance/from/DCA/to/London]
LONG-DISTANCE CHARTER AIRCRAFT TYPICAL HOURLY RATES: $3000-$8000/hour [Source: http://www.airbrokernet.com/Charter_Aircraft_Rates.htm, accessed 3/20/08]
ESTIMATED TOTAL COSTS FOR LONDON TO WASHINGTON CHARTER AIRCRAFT (ONE-WAY): $21,000-$56,000 [Source: http://www.airbrokernet.com/Charter_Aircraft_Rates.htm, accessed 3/20/08]
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS:
Under the FEC rules, if McCain conducted ANY campaign activity in London, his campaign would have to pay for the ENTIRE roundtrip airfare for himself and anyone accompanying on that trip, not just a portion. [FEC regulations, 11 C.F.R. §106.3(b)(2) & (3)]
While prior FEC rules allowed airfare to be calculated on the basis of first-class equivalent fare, the new ethics law passed by Congress last summer (Honest Leadership and Open Government Act) amended the Federal Election Campaign Act to provide that a federal candidate cannot use campaign funds to pay for travel on a non-commercial aircraft unless the candidate pays the pro rata share of the normal and usual charter fare for a comparable plane of comparable size, divided by the number of candidates on the flight. [Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, section 601(a), adding new 2 U.S.C.§439a(c)(1)(B) to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 as amended]