- Washington Free Beacon - https://freebeacon.com -

New Ad Targets 'Millionaire Claire McCaskill' And Her Private Plane

A new ad from conservative Senate Leadership Fund labels Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) a "millionaire" and directs viewers to previous scandals regarding her use of taxpayer funds to pay for travel on her own private plane.

McCaskill, running for a third term in the senate, opened herself up to the line of attack when she said during a town hall this summer that "normal people can afford" travel on private jets. She was also spotted using her own private plane while touring the state for town hall and reported nearly $21,000 of spending for use of the plane last quarter.

The ad uses McCaskill's comment about "normal people" to bring up the fact that she was forced to reimburse $88,000 to the Treasury Department after she was caught using taxpayer money to charter flights on her own plane, and failed to pay $287,000 in property taxes on the same plane.

"Maybe a private plane is affordable when you make taxpayers pay the bill," the ad's narrator says.

The ad concludes by saying "Millionaire Claire McCaskill" is "flying out of touch with Missouri."

McCaskill has taken measures to limit the political exposure of owning a private plane.

The company she pays to operate her plane asked the Federal Aviation Administration in April to stop making travel data on her plane available to the public. An official at the FAA told the Washington Free Beacon this was "uncommon."