You Paid for Prosecutor’s New York Flings

For weeks, Democratic Congressional candidate Bryan Lentz has responded to attacks from Republican Pat Meehan about Lentz’s expense reimbursements in the state legislature.

This week Lentz countered with a zinger of his own:

Turns out when Meehan was U.S. Attorney for Southeastern Pennsylvania, he attended the annual political schmooze fest in New York known as Pennsylvania Society Weekend four times, and charged taxpayers $3,368 for his stays at a luxury hotel. The Lentz campaign made a public records request and got Meehan’s room bills from the Waldorf Astoria for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

I asked Meehan’s campaign if he could explain why a federal prosecutor would spend a weekend sharing drinks with pols he ought to be investigating, and what possible rationale he could offer for billing the Justice Department.

Meehan didn’t get on the phone. The campaign ignored my questions and instead gave me this statement:

“This is a desperate last minute smear by a candidate who’s integrity has been questioned time and again because of his role to get a third party spoiler candidate on the ballot.  As US Attorney, Pat Meehan recovered billions for taxpayers and prosecuted corrupt political officials for illegal misuse of taxpayer dollars.  As for these events, Pat Meehan sought clearance and obtained appropriate DOJ approval for these expenses.”