If Receipts Are Not Provided to the Public, Junket Should Be on Personal Dime or Paid from the Campaign

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance made the following statement today, as news broke that Governor Maura Healey’s latest junket to Italy and Rome, cost the taxpayers a whopping $30,263. The Healey Administration has not made the receipts public. Governor Healey’s Climate Chief, Melissa Hoffer, along with other staff, also jetted off to Rome to join the Governor in their taxpayer funded, high emissions, European junket.  

 “Everyone would like an all expenses paid trip to Rome, but just because you are the Governor or the Climate Chief, doesn’t mean you should use taxpayer money to do it. If receipts are not provided to the public, the junket should be on their personal dime, or paid for by the Healey campaign war chest. For two people who want the citizens of the Commonwealth to drastically raise their costs of living and lower their standards of living in the name of emissions reductions, jet-setting to Europe, spewing out tons of carbon emissions, racking up expensive hotel lodging, European meals, and who knows what else, all seems very hypocritical and inappropriate. This is especially true in the age of Zoom, where teleconferencing has made speaking to people across the globe so easy. The Healey administration just announced a ‘hiring freeze’ last month and is looking to enact a series of tax hike proposals to help plug holes in the state budget. It’s a bad look,” stated Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

As of today, the Healey campaign committee has $1,934,227.27 cash on hand. A reimbursement from her campaign to the taxpayers would reduce her campaign’s cash on hand by 1 percent.