Anna Nicole Smith, the model and TV personality who died in 2007, famously said that “It’s very expensive to be me.” The line was outrageous, pithy, and true. But no one would blame you for attributing that infamous quote to Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema, instead.
In case you missed it, The Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey reports that Sinema “appears to have turned [last year’s Boston Marathon] into a fundraising junket, allowing her campaign to cover the thousands of dollars in expenses she would have incurred herself by traveling to the race.”
The timing of the race seems to correspond with her stay at a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which is consistent with previous reports regarding her affinity for “luxury hotels, private jets, limos and fine wines.”
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I’m no lefty who feels betrayed because Sinema left the Democratic Party to run as an independent. In fact, I have argued that Sinema is one of “America’s best and bravest politicians” and that she’s “one of the most effective U.S. senators.”
But it’s hard to read the reports about her lavish lifestyle and not conclude that she’s just another politician who’s in it for the perks and privileges.
Now, this criticism deserves a couple of caveats. For one thing, Sinema is hardly alone. My forthcoming book, Filthy Rich Politicians, features a chapter titled, “The Lifestyle: Living Large” that documents other politicians playing the same game.
Likewise, it takes money to make money. Competitive political campaigns like Sinema’s are pricey, and raising money often requires taking trips and hosting fundraising events that have significant overhead.
Still, Sinema isn’t exactly eating at McDonald’s or staying at the Holiday Inn. As Brodey notes, other western Democratic senators facing similarly tough re-election bids “spent fractions” of what Sinema did during the same time period.
“It is one thing to ask donors for money to support your campaign and get your message out to voters; it is another to ask them to bankroll your personal life,” Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of the watchdog group Documented, told the Beast. “If an officeholder is using donor dollars to subsidize their lifestyle or finance personal expenses, then campaign contributions pose a much greater risk of corruption.”
Sinema is not among the richest members of Congress, but thanks to her ability to rake in campaign cash, it hardly matters.
If you have bodyguards, personal planes, and champagne, and you frequent Ritz-Carltons—all funded by other people’s money—the question of whether you are personally accruing wealth is a distinction without much of a difference.
That’s not to say Sinema won’t be able to cash in personally down the road. As of 2016, 38 percent of Senate Democrats went on to become lobbyists. There is speculation that if she loses, Sinema might follow that same “revolving door” and be hired by the same industry fat cats who currently fund her lifestyle, via campaign contributions.
Does this impact her votes? Critics on the left have been saying for years now that we should “connect the dots.” The cynical way of viewing this is that Sinema is beholden to wealthy donors, Wall Street money, and PACs. (While I have been skeptical of such charges, Sinema’s move last year—single-handedly forcing Democrats to keep the carried interest tax loophole—gave me pause.)
A less cynical view is simply that Sinema is taking full advantage of an opportunity to live a robust life, while mixing work and pleasure in a shrewd way. True, it’s an opportunity that 99 percent of hard-working Americans can’t access—and it’s all thanks to her position as a senator.
Even if you assume the best, this sort of behavior reinforces a growing sense among many Americans that the game is rigged and that politicians are using their perch to benefit themselves, not “we the people.”
It also detracts from some of Sinema’s legislative achievements, not to mention her once-bright potential to be an independent-minded political star.
Sinema was supposed to be running for re-election as the late Sen. John McCain’s heir, but she appears to be more focused on running marathons. Increasingly, it looks like she is more interested in serving herself than serving the public.
In the immortal words of McCain, “It's hard to do the Lord's work in the city of Satan.” He wasn’t wrong.
