⚡️Campaign Finance ?: Letitia James

When I got asked to look into Letitia James’ financials last week, I really wasn’t expecting to find much. As you probably know, James is the Attorney General of New York who just secured a $454 million judgement against Donald Trump.

James was elected as the NY AG in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Prior to that James was the NYC “public advocate” for 4 years and a NYC city council member for 8 years prior to that. Prior to elected office she was a public defender for Legal Aid.

IOW Letitia James is a lifelong public servant and other than a mishap in the 2010s where she neglected to list the Brooklyn brownstone she owns & rents out on her financial disclosure forms, she hasn’t had any public scandals.

With that being said, I’m not quite sure what I was expecting to find but I do know I wasn’t expecting what I found.

The first thing you’ll notice when you download and sort the expenditures of any politician running for reelection in a safe seat is how they use their campaign funds to supplement their lifestyles to a degree middle America could never dream of.

What do I mean? Well, in 2023 alone, James spent over $28,500 on hotels. Over $15,000 of that was spent on luxury hotels in Puerto Rico.

Then there’s the airfare. In the 5 years she’s been the New York State AG, James’ has spent over $84,000 on airfare to fly herself all over the country.

This includes private jet rentals.

She’s billed her campaign over $20,000/year for meals. And no, these aren’t large catering events.

These are receipts for everything from $18 at Dunkin Donuts to $60 at Dave & Busters to $165 at an oyster bar in Massachusetts and then $700 at a steakhouse in Brooklyn.

Then there’s thousands spent on Ubers and Lyfts.

Tens of thousands spent on “office” at everywhere from Target to BJ’s wholesale.