Only a pea-brain government bureaucrat could approve using transportation money for the South Dakota governor’s ego trip. An aviation news site reports on the new King Air 90.
TFA is not alone in feeling more than bewildered by this outrageous transaction.
According to Bergquist, matching money from Amtrak and airport projects money will be used to pay for the new Beechcraft… which has stirred up controversy in congress.
Congressman Jim Oberstar-D-MN objected and wrote a letter to the federal inspector general last month, contending that transferring federal money to the state account to buy a $1.5 million 1995 King Air 90 was improper.
Oberstar’s concern that the state “improperly used Amtrak money to purchase an airplane … is in our opinion, incorrect,” Bergquist said. “Amtrak funds were properly used as a match for airport projects. By using those Amtrak funds for those matching purposes, it freed up Aeronautics Fund dollars that were used, properly used, to purchase an airplane.”
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy
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