You hate to see it: McCaul (TX-10) spent $33,086 on limos and — since 2018 alone — more than $50,000 on food, beverage and meal expenses
Congressman Mike McCaul’s disdain for campaigning is well known by now, but boy does he love to spend his campaign cash lavishly!
That’s what a new report revealed about Congressman McCaul and his appreciation for the finer things in life. McCaul used other people’s money to spend wildly on important campaign expenses such as limousine service, steakhouses and “haute Greek cuisine.” Yum!
McCaul admitted to CNN in August that he’s a lazy campaigner who ran a low-energy race in 2018… so was all of this spending for really campaign purposes?
And speaking of limos, Congressman McCaul used his campaign account to spend $33,086 on “Austin, Texas’ premiere limousine service company.”
For her part, Mrs. Linda McCaul has been so pleased with the luxury travel company that she was kind enough to write a glowing review featured on their website:
“Whether the transportation need be personal or business, Echelon limousine is a very trusted company that has assisted me, as well as the needs of my husband, Congressman Michael T. McCaul, Representative, Texas 10th Congressional District and on occasion, the needs of my children.”
Must be nice!
Texas Signal: Campaign finance records show Rep. McCaul spent lavishly
By Fernando Ramirez
September 10, 2019
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas recently opened the door to another job. In an August interview with CNN, the congressman, who represents a district stretching from northwest Harris County to Austin, said he would be a good secretary of state for President Trump, and if the job came open, it would be “of interest.”
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones has noted McCaul, a Republican, has been “looking for the exits for a while. Being in the minority in the U.S. House is not a lot of fun.”
Still, McCaul says he’s running for re-election. But it won’t be a cakewalk. Last year, he won his race by just 4 points, compared to his roughly 20-point blowout victories in previous elections.
McCaul, the second wealthiest member of Congress, contributed $0 to his own campaign during the 2017-2018 cycle; he raised $1.7 million, mostly from large individual contributors (totaling about $822,000) and PACs ($798,000).
A review of publicly available finance reports over the past few years by The Texas Signal reveals what could be considered lavish spending by the congressman’s campaign.
Since 2015, the campaign reported spending $33,086 on limousine rides. McCaul’s wife, Linda, wrote a thumbs-up review of the Austin limo company Echelon, which describes itself as a “premier limousine service company.”
“Whether the transportation need be personal or business, Echelon limousine is a very trusted company that has assisted me, as well as the needs of my husband, Congressman Michael T. McCaul, Representative, Texas 10th Congressional District and on occasion, the needs of my children,” she wrote.
When it comes to dining out, his campaign spent more than $50,000 in food, beverage, meetings and meals, catering and facility use since 2018, including:
- $3,300 for “haute Greek cuisine” at Nerai in New York City on two different days (May 4 and 9, 2018);
- $1,824 in one day (June 19, 2018) at the Capitol Hill Club, a social club for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and seeming favorite of the campaign, given the number of times the club shows up on the finance report;
- A total of $5,788 over three days at Capital Grille in Austin, where the steaks “are meticulously dry aged on premises for more than 18 days to achieve incomparable flavor and texture.” (December 14, September 13, and March 21, 2018)
Democrats Mike Siegel, Shannon Hutcheson, and Pritesh Gandhi are running to unseat McCaul next November. His seat is one of six 2020 House races in Texas that Democrats have identified as flippable.