New York’s U.S. senators take to the skies in chartered flights so often that they’ve dropped more travel bucks than anyone else in the Senate since 2009.
Sen. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the Senate for home-state travel costs since 2009, a Daily News review of Senate expenditure reports found.
Schumer has spent $1.1 million, Gillibrand $1 million since 2009.
The New York duo spent a combined $727,000 through September of this year to crisscross New York state — more than lawmakers from far-flung Alaska and Montana.
“No senator travels their state more aggressively than Chuck Schumer,” said his spokesman, Brian Fallon. “He visits all 62 counties every year and travels to the largest upstate cities at least once a month…It is not possible to keep this rigorous a schedule by flying on commercial airlines alone,” Fallon said.
Gillibrand has also visited all of New York’s 62 counties.
“Being accessible and hearing directly from her constituents is an essential part of doing her job effectively,” spokesman Glen Caplin said.
Both senators argue charter flights are the only way to hit multiple upstate towns on a single trip.
Schumer’s staff estimates they would have had to cut this year’s 150 upstate events in half if they had to rely only on commercial airlines.
The senators’ staffers say the charter flights are hardly deluxe.
Schumer uses Air Charter Express, which bills itself as a $395-an-hour service. He rides a single-engine, propeller-driven Beechcraft Bonanza, with “no bathroom and not big enough to stand up in,” Fallon noted.
Gillibrand often rides a 10-year-old six-seat Citation, booked through Zen Air, her staff said. One of the seats has a toilet hidden underneath and there is a curtain to provide privacy, they added.
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Whose money pays for these flights? Taxpayers? Campaign donors? Lobbyists? Favor-seekers? Without that information, this article is worth what I paid for it.