Loretta $anchez Takes Advantage of Your Tax Dollar$

Loretta $anchez Takes Advantage of Your Tax Dollar$

As California Sees Red, Sanchez Travels the World on Taxpayers’ Dime

Washington– Traveling the world, snorkeling Australia’s Great Reef Barrier and visiting the South Pole sounds nice doesn’t it? Well, that’s what Garden Grove Rep. Loretta Sanchez has been doing over the past three years at California taxpayers’ expense. Last year alone, Sanchez went on seven “fact finding trips,” which brought the number of trips she has taken on the taxpayer dime since 2006 to a whopping 20: 

“In the last 3 1/2 years, she visited the South Pole, snorkeled at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and joined world leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany. She met with Darfur refugees in Sudan, attended a “legislators’ dialogue” with European Parliament members in Slovenia, delivered a speech on transportation security in France and inspected anti-terrorism defenses in Genoa, Italy, and Mombasa, Kenya.

All told, she has made 20 overseas trips since the start of 2006, touching down on every continent. Last year, she went abroad seven times. Many times she used military flights, but one commercial flight from Australia to Britain cost $8,383.” (Richard Simon, “Rep. Loretta Sanchez among lawmakers in spotlight for taxpayer-funded trips,” Los Angeles Times, 9/13/2009)

And with California $26 billion in the red and facing an unemployment rate of 11.9%, is it really the time for Sanchez to take advantage of her constituents’ money?

“Loretta Sanchez’s penchant for traveling on the taxpayers’ dime does not go unnoticed,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Sanchez’s frequent and expensive trips are a blatant abuse of taxpayer monies. While their Congresswoman is snorkeling and exploring the South Pole, Californians are left pinching pennies. Loretta Sanchez’s egregious abuse of taxpayer funds further proves her growing disconnect with middle class California families.”

With one of the worst recessions in history and an utter lack of transparency, taxpayer-funded trips are beginning to be scrutinized, bringing Sanchez’s misuse of taxpayer funds to the forefront. And while middle class Californian families lose sleep over paying their taxes, their Representative will be somewhere exploring the world on their hard-earned dime.

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