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| WHO WILL PAY FOR ITS CARBON OFFSET? |
(CNN)
A prominent congressman is pointing to a saga involving his pet rabbit as evidence of the poor judgment of the ethics office that Republicans briefly planned this week to disempower.
Duncan Hunter, whose conduct is being scrutinized by the House Ethics committee, will be faulted in an upcoming report for billing the flying of his children's pet rabbit on a plane and billing the charges to his campaign account, Hunter's spokesman told The Associated Press.
"(The office) has in their report $600 in campaign expenditures for in cabin rabbit transport fees," Hunter's spokesman, Joe Kasper, told the AP. "Since travel is often done on (airline) miles -- which is entirely permissible -- the credit card connected to the account was charged several times even when his children were flying."
Hunter did not respond to a request for additional comment Wednesday. But he told the AP that it was "an obvious example of a mistake being made but (the office) wants to view it through a lens of possible intent. The same goes for many other expenditures."
Hunter's father ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.
[EPEAK] Clifford Pinkerton, a lawyer for Congressman Duncan Hunter, stated today
“When we get the facts out, you will see that the Congressman has done nothing wrong,” said Pinkerton. “The $600 for rabbit travel was a legitimate expense to get Maurice the rabbit, the congressman’s Director of Animal Welfare, to an important meeting in the Bahamas, with the rest of the Congressman’s campaign staff. Maurice didn’t fly first class. It was Economy Plus, with only one free checked bag.
