Kyrsten Sinema's Rock Star Campaign Spending Possibly Less Ethical Than Clarence Thomas On Random Tuesday

It's like comic book villainy at this point.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema from the Sinema Party enjoys Wall Street donor cash and fine wine, so it's not a surprise that Arizona's senior senator would combine her two loves like corrupt chocolate and peanut butter.

 New York Post business reporter Lydia Moynihan dug into Sinema's campaign spending habits. (Apparently, Murdoch media is not showing Sinema the bipartisan centrist love.) What Moynihan uncovered is both hilarious and appalling.

Since 2021, Sinema has spent nearly $20,000 worth of campaign donations on wine-related expenses alone — dropping thousands at some of the most exclusive vineyards on the West Coast including Promontory Winery in Napa Valley, Auteur Winery in Sonoma and Argyle Winery in the Willamette Valley, according to election filings.

 Giphy 

How is this at all related to whatever it is Sinema does in the Senate? Obstructing voting rights legislation and abortion protections pairs perfectly well with a medium-bodied box wine.

PREVIOUSLY:

 Can Poor, Sucky Sinema Make Ends Meet With Spare Millions From GOP Donors/PACs? 

 Kyrsten Sinema Loves Pyramid Schemes So Much She Might Even Hold A Town Hall For Them! 

 How We Can Replace Kyrsten Sinema ... With A Democrat! 

 Kyrsten Sinema Working Hard To Finish Fourth In Three-Way Senate Race 

   Kyrsten Sinema: Why Does Every Democrat I Betray Betray Me? 

Sinema is known for her personal fitness, so it's not like she's drinking all this wine on an empty stomach. Moynihan writes, "Sinema spent nearly $10,000 in campaign funds at posh restaurants like the Russian Tea Room in New York City and Sketch in London’s Mayfair neighborhood, as well as restaurants in Barcelona, Paris and Miami."

I wouldn't necessarily call the Russian Tea Room "posh," but the menu is suitably high priced for pretentious suckers (and their donors). Senator Carmen Sandiego seems to spend less time in Arizona than tax-dodging snow birds. She should just resign from the Senate and start her own YouTube channel where she reviews fancy-pants restaurants ( Sinema à la carte! ), but that probably sounds too much like actual work.

Last February and June, Sinema apparently blew $600 in campaign funds at San Diego’s Civico 1845. She even posted photos to her Instagram and tagged her partner Lindsey Buckman. That's adorable but unfortunately doesn't explain what possible campaign-related business she had in San Diego, which is in California.

Filings show that Sinema has spent more than $45,000 on chauffeurs since 2019, and on a single day in New York City, she paid a luxury car service $4,000. She never even released the rap video I assumed she filmed. In fairness, though, we probably don't want Sinema driving her own personal Subaru, considering her five-figure wine habit.

 www.youtube.com 

A CBS affiliate in Phoenix ran a segment about Sinema's spending — I hope someone taped it for her since she doesn't spend a lot of time in the state — and noted that the senator has spent $22,891 on $1,000-a-night rooms at five-star hotels since October 2022.

Obviously, this is all kinds of jacked up, and normal wealthy Americans just trying to buy off a senator can't help feeling scammed.

Thomas Jones, president of the conservative American Accountability Foundation, told the Post that Sinema's spending spree "appears to be an outlier."

"There’s a decent number of fundraiser type events at nice restaurants and steak houses but Sinema’s spending appears outside the norm," Jones said. "Donors generally want candidates spending their money on winning their races — not on expensive meals and fancy destinations.”

 Sinema raised less money in her first full fundraising quarter than her likely Democratic opponent Ruben Gallego, and she'll also have to contend with a well-funded Republican challenger. (Arizona "governor" Kari Lake is an election-denying loon but she appears to have spent her gubernatorial campaign funds on her actual campaign.) If Sinema were taking her re-election seriously, she might want to try roughing it for a while in cabs and Best Westerns.

[ New York Post ]

  Follow Stephen Robinson on  Twitter if it still exists.  

Catch SER on his new podcast, The Play Typer Guy. 

Did you know SER has his own YouTube Channel? Well, now you do, so go subscribe right now!

Click the widget to keep your Wonkette ad-free and feisty.