Writing for the conservative Washington Examiner, investigative reporter Andrew Kerr claimed that Rep. Madison Cawthorn dropped close to $3000 in taxpayer money at a lavish resort in his hometown of Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Adding insult to injury, the same week the controversial lawmaker was living it up at the resort, he was tweeting that "Democratic politicians certainly love wasting your hard-earned tax dollars."
According to Kerr, "Cawthorn spent $2,950 from his taxpayer-funded members representational allowance at Skylaranna, a resort based in his hometown of Hendersonville, North Carolina, that boasts luxury accommodations for romantic dinners, weddings, and corporate events. The freshman Republican lawmaker categorized his Aug. 9 payment to the luxury resort as a 'legislative planning food and beverage' expense."
The report states a review of Cawthorn's expenses also showed "$491 for a trip to Papa's and Beer Mexican Restaurant, two visits to Chick-fil-A totaling $382," with Cawthorn labeling the expenditures as "legislative planning food and beverage" expenses once again.
The journalist then called attention to Cawthorn's complaints on Twitter the same week of the Skylaranna visit.
"Also between Aug. 6 and 10, the firebrand conservative issued multiple tweets railing against Democrats in Congress for wasting taxpayer funds," he wrote, quoting Cawthorn tweeting, "Democratic politicians certainly love wasting your hard-earned tax dollars while forcing your businesses to shut down," and then adding, "NC-11 is sick and tired of our hard-earned tax dollars being spent on these trillion-dollar socialist monstrosities. They're OUR dollars, not the socialists."
A spokesperson for the embattled lawmaker issued a statement claiming, "Our district retreat occurred on those dates; those expenses were for the district and D.C. staff on the retreat. Nearly every office on Capitol Hill has a district retreat and a budget specifically designated for one."
A spokesperson for Skylaranna declined to reveal specifically what the taxpayers were paying for during the 26-year-old lawmaker's visit.
