Diane Black’s private plane flights scrutinized

Last month, when U.S. Rep. Diane Black traveled to the Paris Fish Fry and the Hamilton County Reagan Day Dinner, she did so on a plane affiliated with a company that benefited from a federal emissions exemption she helped secure.

Black flew on a plane registered to a company affiliated with the founders of Fitzgerald Glider Kits, and the relationship between Black and Robert and Tommy Fitzgerald is already under national scrutiny.

Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Black’s flights raise questions about whether the company’s founders are being given special treatment.

“This is preferential access and a lot of influence over the congresswoman and they’ve probably obtained things the average constituent would not and that their money has brought them good will and air time, literally,” she said.

Black’s campaign says she paid for the flight which will be disclosed on her next campaign finance disclosure.

From a fish fry to Corey Lewandowski

On April 27, Black, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, was seen exiting a 2017 Embraer Phenom 300 twin-jet airplane, according to photos obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee.

That day, the white plane emblazoned with green and black stripes, departed Lovell Field in Chattanooga at 8:27 a.m. ET, according to flight records. Roughly 30 minutes later the plane landed at the Henry County Airport.

From there, Black, alongside campaign workers, participated in the Paris parade, met with members of the Tennessee National Guard and ate fried food.

Just before 2 p.m. the plane took off, returning to Lovell Field.

That evening, Black attended the Reagan Day Dinner in Chattanooga, where she met with, among others, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

The one-day trip was in an airplane registered to Dale Hollow Aviation LLC, a Byrdstown-based company. The registered agent is Zachary Atkins and the address associated with the business is 1225 Livingston Hwy.

The same registered agent and address is listed for Fitzgerald Glider Kits — a trucking company that Black helped by pushing to keep a federal loophole allowing rebuilt diesel engines to be exempt from modern emissions controls.

Black used a letter from Tennessee Tech University’s president touting a 2016 study funded by the company to help persuade the Environmental Protection Agency to keep the glider kit exemption. Tennessee Tech has since asked the EPA to not use the study.

Documents filed with the Secretary of State’s office show the Fitzgeralds, who founded the glider kit company, have been officers of Dale Hollow Aviation in recent years.

Joe DePew, an attorney for Fitzgerald Glider Kits, said the plane is not owned by the company.

Black campaign spokesman Chris Hartline said in addition to Black, those aboard the plane included the pilots and a “couple staffers.”

He said Black paid Dale Hollow Aviation to rent the plane in order to attend both “can’t-miss events.”

Hartline did not disclose the amount of the payment but said she paid “fair market value.”

“While Diane usually drives across the state, important events on opposite sides of the state simply don’t allow that,” he said.

Fitzgerald business affiliates, company executives and family members donated at least $225,000 to Black’s gubernatorial campaign, according to her disclosures.

A spokesman for the Gallatin Republican previously defended her pursuit of the emissions exemption, telling The Associated Press she “does her best to help all constituents.”

Black’s work on the emissions issue and the contributions were first reported by The New York Times in a front page story and in articles in The Washington Post and the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee.

Black’s flights on the plane have not been previously reported.

Hartline said the flights were the only time she’s flown on that specific plane.

“We typically use a Wheels Up membership anytime we charter flights, but there wasn’t enough time to do that on this occasion,” he said, referring to a company that offers annual memberships for private flights.

Under previous rules, members of the House were prohibited from taking this type of flight. But in 2013, Black and others voted to allow House members to fly on corporate jets if they used personal or official funds to pay for the flight.

If Black was running for re-election to her House seat, Federal Election Commission rules would prohibit her from taking a flight on the plane.

“House candidates ... are generally prohibited from engaging in non-commercial campaign travel on aircraft,” FEC rules say. “This prohibition cannot be avoided by payments to the service provider, even if the payments derive from the personal funds of a House candidate.” No such prohibition exists under Tennessee’s laws. Hartline said since the beginning of 2017, Black has used used a private airplane to travel nine times — all at her expense. In the same time period, she’s flown commercial airplanes 112 times and been on Air Force One with President Donald Trump twice.

Black’s use of the plane should be disclosed on her next campaign finance disclosure forms for her gubernatorial campaign, which are due in early July.

Drew Rawlins, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, said state and local candidates taking flights on private planes for campaign purposes must report them.

Joel Ebert and Dave Boucher

In addition, attorney Jonathan Toomey, who used to work in Black’s legislative office, is now the federal lobbyist for Fitzgerald Glider Kits.

Although some federal government employees are required to have a one-year period during which they are unable to lobby lawmakers after working for them, Toomey did not face such a prohibition because he did not make enough money while working for Black.

Black’s federal disclosures indicate Toomey stopped working for her on Sept. 4. Fitzgerald’s lobbying report for the same time period shows by Oct. 20, he was the company’s only lobbyist.

It’s unclear when Toomey started lobbying for the company but Fitzgerald’s disclosure report listed spending $13,000 on lobbying during the third quarter of the year.

Hartline defended Black’s relationship with the Fitzgeralds, who he said are major job creators in her congressional district.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com. Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@tennessean.com.