Energy Secretary Rick Perry used around $60,000 from his former campaign fund in Texas to pay for his wife, Anita Perry, to travel with him on official business, Bloomberg reported.
Perry’s old funding committee — Texans for Rick Perry — bankrolled flights for Anita Perry to travel to places like Paris, Vienna, Rome and Cape Town with her husband, according to financial disclosures obtained by the Texas Ethics Commission and reviewed by Bloomberg.
While it is not illegal in Texas to use campaign money to pay for travel, it is widely considered unethical, Bloomberg noted.
A Department of Energy spokesperson defended the spending to Bloomberg.
“Mrs. Perry has traveled with Secretary Perry on occasion, adding valuable support to him as he advances DOE’s mission abroad,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement. “As these filings confirm, no taxpayer dollars have been spent on Mrs. Perry’s air travel and funding for it is authorized under State and Federal laws and regulations.”
