I wrote a while back that, at the very least, you can say in Barbara Lee’s behalf that she’s never been involved in a scandal. But that’s no longer true. Since Loren Taylor’s campaign released facts about Lee’s paid travels when she was in the Congress, questions are now being raised that suggest Lee was the biggest grifter in the House of Representatives for years.
How? According to the Associated Press, since 2012, “Lee, D-California, leads the list” of U.S. representatives who abused travel privileges when she “traveled the country and the world on official business” and took her family with her “to stay in world-class resorts, spend days soaking up the culture and score reservations at the hottest restaurants in town.”
The exposé, conducted by Boston University and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, reveals that “Lee… leads the list of frequent fliers [in the Congress] with 45 trips since 2012. Lee has brought her grandson, spouse, sister, two daughters-in-law and two children on trips to Beijing, Berlin, two locales in Africa, as well as Istanbul, Israel and other destinations — with the family always flying business class and staying in five-star accommodations.”
Nice work if you can get it!
Is this a scandal? I think it is. As a longtime reporter in the wine and food world, I was treated to many travel luxuries, but I certainly never brought my family with me. I would have been fired for doing so, or my employers would have demanded I cover their costs. Lee, who according to the Associated Press “declined interview requests,” responded through her spokesperson that “these trips provide[d] her an important opportunity to engage on foreign policy matters that inform her committee work and her work on behalf of her district and constituents.”
Really? And she needed her family with her to do that?
Furthermore, the spokesperson added, “As one of the few Black lawmakers in these influential positions on foreign policy, she takes very seriously every opportunity she can to improve her understanding of global peace and security policy.”
Ah, there it is: the race card. With Lee, it’s always there, hidden in her bosom. Anytime she’s in trouble, she plays it. If anyone dares to question her ethics, they’re a racist. As if being Black entitles her to be sleazy. Tell me, if Eric Swalwell had spent thousands of dollars treating his family to all-expenses junkets across the globe, would he justify it by being White? Would he get away with it?
To me, this is in keeping with my feeling that Lee likes being on the public payroll, with all of its perks, and that’s the only reason she’s running for mayor. She’s grown accustomed to a lifestyle where she can get away with this crap. No one ever paid much attention to Lee anyway; she discovered she could do sketchy stuff and her local media, God forbid, wouldn’t know or care. I wonder what other scandals will emerge before the election.
Steve Heimoff