Senator Claire McCaskill's spokeswoman this evening confirmed that the Missouri Senator billed taxpayers for a purely political travel on a private plane co-owned by her family, a violation of Congressional ethics rules that deepens questions around her use of the plane.

POLITICO's John Bresnahan and Scott Wong reported yesterday that McCaskill billed taxpayers for almost $76,000 for official travel on the twin-engine Piper aircraft, which she co-owns with her husband and other investors. Lawmakers routinely accept reimbursement from the government for their travel, but after the revelation that she used official public dollars to partially subsidize a private aircraft, McCaskill refunded taxpayers -- citing appearances, not any violation of ethics rules.

A cursory examination of the 89 flights for which McCaskill reimbursed the Treasury this week revealed the purely political round trip. On Saturday, March 3, 2007 she flew from St. Louis to Hannibal, MO, and back, for the local Democratic Party's annual Hannibal Days. Her speech at the event, a recollection of the dying former Senator Tom Eagleton, was reported in the local press. And she billed taxpayers $1,220.44 for the travel, according to the public records examined by POLITICO.

McCaskill spokeswoman Maria Speiser conceded that the bill was inappropriate, and had no immediate explanation for how it had come to be submitted as an official expense.

"It appears that a mistake may have been made here," Speiser said. "Fortunately those payments have already been returned."

McCaskill "feels embarrassed by the situation, but ultimately is glad that it’s already been fixed," Speiser said, referring to the fact that McCaskill had reimbursed the treasury for the entire group of flights earlier this week. 

The questions around McCaskill's flights are likely to be an issue in McCaskill's re-election campaign next year in a difficult state for Democrats, and they undercut her image as a transparent, crusading reformer -- who pushed for, among other things, a new post overseeing Senatorial expenses..

Speiser cited McCaskill's own woes in support of legislation she introduced earlier this year that would extend the tight regulation covering domestic flights to international travel. 

"It's through the more stringent disclosure rules for domestic travel that you were able to uncover these mistakes, and they could be fixed," she said. "We don't have those rules for foreign travel."