Once again, Rep. Eric Swalwell’s financials are in the news for all the wrong reasons.
His most recent FEC filing shows more than $500,000 on lavish travel and dining expenses.
Swalwell has been known for a long time to spend lavishly on travel and dining, charging it all off to his campaign.
To give you an idea of how insane his spending is, he spent 34.3% more than Nancy Pelosi during the 2022 election cycle.
Pelosi’s costs were $434,000, and as the House Speaker, you would expect her spending to be the highest among all members of the House.
Swalwell spent $583,000 during the same cycle, much of it on what appears to be unnecessary travel.
For instance, he stayed at the five-star Hotel La Maison Champs-Elysées for a cool $1,800.
He spent $3,500 at the Ritz Paris. More recently, he spent $1,600 at the Biltmore Mayfair in London, $900 at the Kensington Hotel, and $361 at the CUT At 45 Park Lane, also in London, on what appears to be a very expensive steak dinner.
Swalwell has also spent stacks of cash on domestic 5-star travel, such as the Loews Miami Beach, Conrad New York Midtown, and the Gwen Hotel in Chicago.
This is arguably one of the most significant problems we have in our political system.
Politicians invent political reasons to go to exotic locations, then spend lavishly, living the first-class life, because they are not footing the bill. In most cases, donors are ignorant of the fact their money is being spent like this, thinking their donations are going for ads and political events.
The sad reality is that the person who gives $20 or $50 is probably doing without something for the month, while people like Swalwell live the dream.
This is something that has frustrated me since I started covering politics, which is why I report the abuse on both sides of the aisle.
Last week, we reported on how Rep. Boebert (R-CO) spent more than $300 at the restaurant of her then-boyfriend.
I also hit Trump on the fact that he was spending the majority of his campaign funds on legal bills. The issue there was that his campaign was not being upfront with donors, while tens of millions were being paid to attorneys instead of funding rallies and campaign ads.
To me, it is just a slap in the face to small donors when this money gets wasted like this, which is why I personally stopped donating to politicians.
I have far better things to do with my money than to pay for their fancy diners, hotels, and legal bills.
