Sinema has yet to acknowledge or clarify the specifics, calling into question the ethics of the arrangement
Today Sam Brodey at the Daily Beast reports on Kyrsten Sinema’s unusual security arrangements – which include hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Tulsi Gabbard’s sister.
Sinema spends more money on her security detail than almost any other U.S. Senator, with a majority of expenses going to an entity called TOA Group LLC, whose sole member is Gabbard’s sister, Vrindivan Gabbard Bellord. In addition to a $50,000 taxpayer-funded salary for Bellard in Sinema’s Senate office, Bellord’s company has also received at least $240,000 from Sinema’s campaign. Sinema is reportedly the only client of Bellord’s company. Bellord has previously gained notoriety for her role on her sister Tulsi’s ill-fated presidential campaign.
“Using both campaign and taxpayer funds to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a close friend’s sister—as well as a number of fringe benefits—warrants some degree of an explanation,” one watchdog expert told the Daily Beast.
Even more unusual: Unlike other Senators with big security expenses, Sinema hasn’t been in an election cycle, has had no rallies or other big events, and she’s hosted no open town halls with constituents since getting elected to the Senate. So why is her security detail so expensive?
Ethics experts quoted by the Daily Beast said the unusual arrangement is “eye-opening.”
“Arizonans sent Senator Sinema to Washington with the expectation that she would be an honest steward of their taxpayer dollars. Instead, we have seen her use her position to fund her lavish lifestyle, make her staffers buy her groceries, and do favors for Wall Street – and this latest report reveals another potentially unethical arrangement. No wonder Sinema has become the most unpopular politician in Arizona; she continues to prove she is only out for herself,” said Sacha Haworth, spokesperson for Replace Sinema PAC.
ICYMI:
The Daily Beast: Kyrsten Sinema’s $300,000 Security Expert Is Tulsi Gabbard’s Sister
Sam Brodey // February 23, 2023
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) spends more of her campaign funds on security than nearly every other member of Congress—she’s underwritten well over $560,000 for her protection since late 2021—but what’s more unusual than how much she spends is who she spends it on.
According to federal campaign finance filings, Sinema’s campaign committees have paid a combined $307,000 in security expenses to an Arizona-registered entity called TOA Group LLC. And official documents show that TOA Group LLC has just one officer: Vrindivan Gabbard Bellord, best known as the sister of and occasional spokesperson for Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate turned right-wing political figure, has long had a friendly relationship with Sinema. And Gabbard’s sister, Bellord, also appears to be quite close to the senator.
Since fall 2021, Bellord has been employed as the “security director” in Sinema’s Senate office, a role that has paid her over $50,000, according to Senate records. Bellord has also apparently been the exclusive security provider to Sinema’s campaign. She appears to have no other clients aside from the Arizona senator.
Beyond paying Bellord’s salary, Sinema’s campaign committee and personal PAC have spent over $240,000 on other security-related expenses—airfare, lodging, meals, and other benefits for “security detail,” presumably meaning Bellord.
In 2022, Sinema’s campaigns spent over $56,000 for security detail lodging at Marriott hotels alone. Notably, there are also two separate charges totaling over $100,000 for “security detail vehicle.”
[…]
The connection between Sinema and Bellord is far from coincidental. Sinema and Gabbard first became friends when both arrived in the U.S. House as freshmen in 2013. During Gabbard’s time in Washington, Bellord reportedly lived with her sister—and likely got to know Sinema there. According to property records, Bellord’s primary residence now is in Texas.
[…]
But Ghosh remarked the $300,000-plus sum that Bellord received from Sinema was “eye-opening” and that the fact that the senator is her only apparent client is “one of the biggest red flags.”
That Bellord is being paid with campaign funds for security while drawing a taxpayer-funded salary for the same kind of work is “exceptionally rare,” said Brendan Fischer, executive director of the watchdog group Documented.
Fischer expressed surprise that Sinema wasn’t paying Bellord entirely with campaign funds, while saving her limited, taxpayer-funded official Senate budget to hire an additional legislative or press staff member.
That Sinema and Bellord have pre-existing personal connections adds to the need for transparency, the experts said—particularly because there are so many charges for expenses that Fischer describes as “fringe benefits.”
“It’s interesting from the perspective of optics, more than legality,” Ghosh said. He added that Bellord would not be subject to the FEC’s rule that campaign funds cannot enrich a candidate’s relatives, “but it’s always questionable whether someone is providing real, legitimate security services, or whether this is a sweetheart deal. It’s usually somewhere in the middle.”
“Using both campaign and taxpayer funds to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a close friend’s sister—as well as a number of fringe benefits—warrants some degree of an explanation,” Fischer said.
[…]
It’s unclear how close Sinema and Gabbard are today, but they have considerable history. The two became quick allies after their elections to Congress in 2012. From 2013 to 2014, they shared a joint fundraising committee. A lengthy internal guide to staffing Sinema, obtained and reported on by The Daily Beast last year, listed her five closest friends in Congress. Gabbard was one of them.
[…]
The business relationship between Sinema and Bellord appears to have begun in October 2021—the same month that angry activists followed the senator into a bathroom at Arizona State University and, separately, confronted her on an airplane and in the airport.
At the end of the month, Bellord began receiving a paycheck from Sinema’s Senate office for her duties as “security director.” In December, Bellord filed paperwork in Arizona to form TOA Group, listing as its address an office park outside Tucson used by several other LLCs.
Beginning in 2022, Sinema’s campaign, as well as her personal Getting Stuff Done PAC, began paying TOA Group for “security detail” and spending on various security-related expenses. These ranged from airline tickets and hotel rooms to in-flight WiFi to meals at a variety of restaurants.
The expenses, cataloged in FEC reports, indicate the extent of Bellord’s travel with Sinema. In addition to the $56,000 Sinema’s campaigns spent on security detail lodging at Marriott, over $35,000 was spent for security detail airfares.
[…]
Fischer, with the watchdog group Documented, said that candidates should be able to spend campaign funds to stay safe in dangerous times, but that “there are a few things about these particular payments that are unique.”
“No one’s questioning the value of hiring security,” he said, “but Sinema should be able to tell her constituents why so much money is being paid to this particular person and for these particular expenditures.”
Read more here.
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