Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.) has decided to reimburse her Senate office $5,700 for a chartered flight from New Orleans to Shreveport for an official event, then Shreveport to Dallas for a fundraiser.
Federal law and Senate rules require expenses to be split between campaign and Senate accounts when campaign functions overlap with official business.
The latest polling shows Landrieu's opponent Rep. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) up by a slight margin, according to Real Clear Politics.
CNN reports:
The reimbursement comes just one day after CNN learned that the vulnerable Louisiana Democrat used government money last November to charter a private plane to travel to a campaign fundraiser, in violation of federal law.
Landrieu spent more than $3,200 in taxpayer money to fly 400 miles round trip from New Orleans to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she attended a $40-per person fundraising lunch with hundreds of women, according to Senate records and Landrieu campaign information. It is illegal to spend government money campaigning.
Landrieu's campaign spokesman, Fabien Levy, said in a statement Monday that the charter company mistakenly billed Landrieu's Senate office instead of her re-election campaign. Levy said the campaign noticed the error a few weeks ago and asked the company to refund the Senate office and bill the campaign, which the company did. Levy said Landrieu's re-election campaign paid for the flight August 4, almost nine months after the November 8 trip.
"We take our finances very seriously and are glad we caught the vendor's mistake and were able to rectify the matter as soon as possible," Levy said.