lpetrich
Contributor
"Since 2021, Respondents have disbursed more than $20,000 in funds of the Committees on at least two trips to Europe, including Expenditures at high-end restaurants and luxury Parisian hotels."
That's clearly a leisure trip, and not a trip for any official business or fundraising.Senator Sinema traveled with family and friends, bolstering the likelihood that her travel was undertaken for personal benefit. She was photographed in October 2022 shopping in Paris with her partner Lindsey Buckman 30 and her friends then-Representative Stephanie Murphy and then-Representative Kathleen Rice. The photograph, which was posted by the “serpentine_jewels” Instagram account, shows the parties posing on the street in front of a store, and the caption reads, “We met on the street and bonded over fashion. Cut to the next day—we ran into each other at a vintage store across town. Turns out a few of these fashion lovers are members of US Congress and knew about Serpentine Jewels!” 31 The clear implication is that Senator Sinema and her friends spent at least two days of leisure time shopping and exploring together in Paris.
Murphy and Rice concurrently reported spending campaign funds at the same hotel (the Le Roch Hotel and Spa) as the Respondents, but they did not show any fundraising activity—and in fact, both had previously announced their retirements from Congress and were not active candidates for any other office. This suggests that their campaign-funded travel was recreational, and potentially actionable as a conversion of funds 32—and giving further credence to the premise that Senator Sinema, too, was enjoying a leisurely vacation during the time she spent with them. 33
About two months after the 2022 European trip, Murphy and Rice stated in an interview that they, along with Senator Sinema, “bought matching diamond-adorned thorn-shaped necklaces.” 34 As the three were shopping together in Paris shortly before, it is possible that they purchased these necklaces as part of a recreational excursion paid for by campaign funds.