California Lawmakers Reap Rewards with Campaign Credit Cards
Steve Cohen November 07, 2014
Election campaign credit cards give rewards points and miles to elected officials and candidates for a legally mandated personal perk.
Election spending this season included $4 million in charges by California lawmakers to campaign-issued credit cards, according to a report from The Sacramento Bee. Using plastic is a convenience that keeps on giving for lawmakers thanks to a generous state law, which allows elected officials and candidates to personally acquire rewards points and frequent flyer miles accrued to campaign credit cards.
“Honestly I did it for the frequent flyer miles,” Assemblyman Scott Wilk said in a recent interview when asked about his rationale for racking up charges of more than $60,000 on his campaign’s Chase card. “It’s convenience and speed and … I happen to get the miles.”
The sums that California candidates and elected officials can personally collect through campaign cards are not insignificant. Certain campaign cards have perks like cash rebates of 1 percent, while others accrue officials thousands of frequent flyer miles and points for hotel stays.
State filings show that political campaigns issued credit cards to at least 100 elected California lawmakers between January 2013 and June 2014. More than one-third of those officials racked up more than $50,000 in charges during that period. Because exact figures are exempt from California’s filing legislation, it’s unclear exactly how many miles or rewards have been earned and redeemed.
[Photo: iStock]
@PHL Federal Employees CAN acquire points when on government travel, they have to use the GSA CC to pay for the room and flights, but the points from stays and miles are theirs.
old news, nothing surprising, and well received in this community
Federal employees are allowed to keep their miles and points from official travel.
They are campaign charges that have to be paid, but not necessarily directly by the cardholders. Nothing illegal about that, mind you. In fact, they're not doing anything illegal, since state law allows for this. But then you have all the card rewards like 1% cash back rebates and tons of miles. Should that money (and the points) be going back to the state to go towards future travel for state employees? If I were a CA resident, I would say "yes". By comparison, federal employees cannot acquire points when on government travel.
What's the big deal? They still have to pay off those balances.