Washington D.C.’s Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser took a luxury trip to the lavish Masters golf tournament and billed taxpayers for the privilege, records show.
While billing taxpayers for the ritzy trip, Bowser wrote off the expense as an alleged “business opportunity” for the nation’s capital.
The mayor argues she took the trip to Georgia to “promote sports and economic development” in D.C.
Bowser has not provided any evidence of how the trip has benefitted her constituents, however.
The Master’s in Augusta, Georgia, professional golf’s major event, is more than 500 miles from Washington D.C.
According to the mayor’s public schedule, Bowser attended the world-renowned golf tournament “as part of a sports and economic development visit.”
A spokesperson confirmed to DC News Now that the airline flights to and from Augusta, Georgia, were paid with city funds.
However, the cost of the flights was not released.
In a phone call Monday afternoon, Bowser’s Communications Director Susana Castillo confirmed to the local outlet that Bowser was invited to the tournament by two people leading a new city task force.
The task force seeks “to revitalize the Gallery Place and Chinatown neighborhood,” Castillo claims.
Castillo said that “whether it’s here in the city or another city or another country,” the mayor is willing to “advance administrative interests,” no matter the setting – including a golf tournament.
This is not the first time Mayor Bowser has been accused of blowing tax dollars on her own personal agenda, however.
As Slay News reported, a political watchdog group revealed in November that Bowser billed taxpayers for a far-left anti-Trump mural in Washington D.C.
The massive Black Lives Matter mural, that Democrats painted on the Washington D.C. street outside President Donald Trump’s White House, cost taxpayers an eye-watering $270,000.
The massive tax dollar spend was revealed in a report from government watchdog Judicial Watch.
The funding was approved in the summer of 2020 when Mayor Muriel Bowser sought to appease the violent Marxist group Black Lives Matter (BLM) while simultaneously protesting against Trump.
Judicial Watch exposed the funding after obtaining a couple dozen pages of records in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case against the Washington D.C. Department of Transportation.
The documents revealed the cost to taxpayers for painting the leftist BLM slogan on the street.
“The repainting seems to have taken place shortly before Black Lives Matter groups began defending Hamas terrorist murders of Jews in Israel,” the report from Judicial Watch pointedly notes.
The slogan is in 50-foot-tall yellow-painted letters and matches the logo of the corrupt BLM organization.
It appeared after Washington D.C. was ravaged by Antifa- and BLM-led rioting and looting in 2020, the report said.
The slogan is painted on 16th Street NW near the White House.
The documents show that the price of the repainting was $53,551 for paint and supplies and another $217,680 for labor.
Judicial Watch revealed the spending:
“In a purchase order dated September 15, 2023, with the description ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza Redo’, a vendor charged DC-based Equus Striping a total of $53,551.20 for supplies for ‘BLMRedo2023’.
“These supplies included ‘StreetBond 250 Yellow-BLM (MMA)’, ‘StreetBond 250 Catalyst’, and ‘StreetBond Primer’, plus shipping.
“The labor for the repainting was provided by a subcontractor called Dewberry and totaled $217,680.”
For the project, “a foreman, operator, laborer, carpenter, and mason” were “needed.”
They used “a backhoe/loader, portable air compressor, Bobcat, dump truck, pick-up truck, and service truck.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton blasted D.C. leadership over the move, saying:
“D.C. crime is out of control but local leaders continue to waste $270,000 in tax money promoting the extremist Black Lives Matter movement in the heart of Washington D.C. that is racist, anti-police, anti-American, and often violent.”
