Wil Cardon Seems to Have a Difficult Time Understanding Jeff Flake's Travel Habits By Matthew Hendley

Phoenix New Times
Wed., Mar. 28 2012

Yet again, Republican Wil Cardon's U.S. Senate campaign has gone on the attack against his primary foe, Congressman Jeff Flake, over his travelhabits.

And yet again, Cardon appears to be confused about what Flake's actually doing.

It started with an ad called "Flake Air," describing Flake as an "international jet-setter" for all the foreign flights he takes on the government's dime.

That's kind of what Flake was supposed to do, as a former member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Republican consultant Nathan Sproul pointed that out last month, calling the ad "blatantly dishonest."

"Does Flake travel internationally at taxpayer expense?" Sproul wrote. "Of course he does. He has served on the House FOREIGN Affairs Committee. That is FOREIGN Affairs as opposed to DOMESTIC Affairs."

Cardon's campaign then quoted part of Sproul's opinion as afollow-up to the "Flake Air" ad, as Sproul says the campaign used the "Does Flake travel internationally at taxpayer expense? Of course he does" line as if Sproul agreed with it.

Cardon has an entire website devoted to the "Flake Air" thing, with another ad sarcastically responding to the "it's his job" aspect of Flake taking trips to other countries.

It's practically the same ad, just acknowledging, albeit sarcastically, that it's kind of what Flake was supposed to do.

Now, there's even more from the Cardon campaign over Flake riding on airplanes.

Yesterday, Cardon's campaign issued another release about Flake's travel habits, titled, "Congressman Jeff Flake Continues to Waste Money for Travel."

"A recent study by CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, found that Congressman Jeff Flake has no shame when it comes to the amount of government money he is willing to waste," the release says. "Phoenix's KPHO-TV highlighted the study's findings in which Congressman Flake has reimbursed himself $20,000 for travel, meals and other expenses."

You can find KPHO's clip here, as it explains how members of the House "used their positions to benefit themselves or their families."

Aside from CREW often beingdescribed as a lefty organization, it doesn't exactly implicate Flake in wasting "government money."

According to CREW's report -- found here -- Flake and his wife were reimbursed for nearly $21,000 worth of travel expenses during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

The Flakes were reimbursed by Flake's campaign committee -- not "government money."

Cardon has been trailing Flake by a consistent near-50 point margin in the GOP Senate primary, so it may be time to pick something other than Flake's travel habits to run a campaign on