Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), the gun-obsessed congresswoman who has already made waves with her controversial stance on issues and public pronouncements, is facing questions about more than $22,000 in mileage reimbursements she paid to herself from her campaign in 2020, according to the Denver Post:

“Candidates for federal office can legally reimburse themselves for miles driven in personal vehicles using the Internal Revenue Service’s mileage rate, which was 57.5 cents per mile for 2020. The Republican congresswoman from western Colorado wrote two checks totaling $22,259 from her campaign coffers for mileage between January and mid-November.

To justify those reimbursements, Boebert would have had to drive 38,712 miles while campaigning, despite having no publicly advertised campaign events in March, April or July, and only one in May. Furthermore, because the reimbursements came in two payments — a modest $1,060 at the end of March and $21,200 on Nov. 11 — Boebert would have had to drive 36,870 miles in just over seven months between April 1 and Nov. 11 to justify the second payment.”

Kedric Payne, a former investigator for the Office of Congressional Ethics, said such a sizeable mileage expense is unusual and was bound to draw attention:

“This highly unusual amount of mileage expenses raises red flags and the campaign should feel obligated to provide answers.”

Asked to explain the large reimbursement expense, neither Boebert or her campaign finance director would comment or provide documentation proving she had traveled the 39,000 miles stipulated in her documentation. The campaign release a statement which read:

“She traveled to every nook and cranny of the district to speak with and hear from the people about their concerns. They say showing up is 90% of the battle and Lauren always showed up. Her aggressive travel schedule is a big reason she won.”

Just how out of line is the $22,000 Boebert received for travel expenses? In 10 years of congressional service, her predecessor, Rep. Scott Tipton (R) only submitted a total of $9797 of expenses, and those included airfare.

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