Sinema, Kelly pay big bucks for security

Ariz. senators near top of costs list in Congress

Arizona’s Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema have poured more of their campaign money into personal security expenses than almost anyone else on Capitol Hill, a reflection of rising threats to members of Congress generally and the state’s special tragic connection to violence involving one.

Since 2017, when the Federal Election Commission clarified that campaigns could use their campaign funds on security systems and expanded security coverage in 2021, Kelly, D-Ariz., ranks fourth among all members of Congress for security-related expenses, with $562,000.

His wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was the target of a 2011 massacre near Tucson that killed six people and left her critically wounded, along with 12 others.

With $389,000, Sinema, I-Ariz., ranks sixth for security expenses. Nearly all of it happened in the past year.

Security expenses on rise amid increasing political strife

The uptick in security expenses has come at a time of increased political polarization and after flashes of politically tinged violence.

In 2017, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot in the hip while practicing with Republicans for a charity baseball game. Then-Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was among those on hand during the spray of gunfire from an Illinois man whose wife later said he went “bananas” after President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.

In October, a California man who had echoed far-right conspiracy theories broke into the home of thenHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and struck her husband, Paul Pelosi, in the head with a hammer.

This month, a man with a long criminal record punched Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., in a Washington, D.C., attack authorities have said was not politically motivated.

“Sadly, today’s political discourse is dominated by vitriol and anger fueled by public figures who further divisions by demonizing those they disagree with,” said Hannah Hurley, a spokeswoman for Sinema. “This kind of rhetoric emboldens people seeking to do harm, furthering dangerous threats and behavior.”

Last month the U.S. Capitol Police noted again that the threats to members of Congress continue to outstrip

their resources.

The department reported investigating 3,900 cases of threats in 2017. It rose each year through 2021, when it peaked at 9,600. Last year, the number of cases fell to 7,500.

“The threats against Members of Congress are still too high,” said Tom Manger, the department’s chief in a statement. “This has resulted in a necessary expansion of, not only our investigative capabilities, but our protection responsibilities as well.”

Routine security not common for some members of Congress

While members in leadership positions and the presidential line of succession have long had security details assigned to them, other members of Congress do not routinely have such security.

In recent years, the FEC has acknowledged security expenses as a legitimate use of campaign funds for those not in congressional leadership.

In December, the $1.7 trillion budget deal Congress passed included $2.5 million set aside for residential security for the 100 members of the Senate. In August, the House of Representatives began offering a program allowing up to $10,000 to install and maintain security systems for its 435 members.

The House action came weeks after a man climbed onstage and tried to stab Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., then running for governor of his state, with a makeshift knife. Zeldin, who is no longer in Congress, wasn’t injured in that case.

Campaign expenses on security have moved sharply upward as the rules changed.

In 2017, federal candidates spent a combined $362,000 on security. In 2020, it reached $1.2 million. With the rules expanded, spending jumped again.

In 2021, it was $3.3 million and last year it went to $4.8 million.

Left to address security needs on their own, a stark pattern emerges of who has spent the most on protection: The list is dominated by Democrats, minorities and women.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., easily topped the list with $1.5 million in security expenses. Like Kelly, he had two Senate campaigns in three years.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is second in security-related expenses with $827,000 and is the only Republican in the top 10.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., is just ahead of Kelly with $598,000. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is between Kelly and Sinema with $533,000.

Democratic Reps. Val Demings of Florida and Tim Ryan of Ohio, both of whom lost Senate bids in 2022, follow Sinema. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is ninth and Rep. Mike Levin, DCalif., rounds out the top 10.

Security spending by Arizona politicians fell off quickly after Kelly and Sinema. Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and former Senate candidate Jim Lamon spent about $20,000 each on security. Others spent less than $5,000 each, if anything.

In 2022 alone, Sinema had the thirdhighest total for the year among all members of Congress and those who ran for office, with $385,000.

New rules tied to attack on AZ’s Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2011

The attack on Giffords helped usher in the FEC’s new rules. Eight months after Giffords was shot, the FEC approved $2,200 in security expenses paid by her campaign, noting that it had done so on at least two prior occasions.

“The ongoing security needs of Representative Giffords identified by the U.S. Capitol Police would not exist were Representative Giffords not a Federal officeholder or a candidate for re-election,” the commission wrote.

In 2017, the FEC issued an advisory opinion that said members of Congress and candidates for office could “spend campaign funds to install or upgrade a residential security system” as long as it wasn’t considered part of improvements to their homes generally.

The sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives asked for the opinion after he noted an increase in daily threats to members of Congress.

In 2021, the FEC essentially expanded the coverage to allow for personal security at the request of the top Republican House and Senate campaign organizations.

The request came just weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and cited a deteriorating environment for members of Congress before then.

“The request lists numerous instances of ‘concrete threats of physical violence against Members and their families’ and responses by law enforcement agencies, going back several years and continuing to the present, and the ‘worsened’ threat environment as assessed by the Capitol Police,” the FEC opinion said.