WASHINGTON — A political scholar at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Cynthia Brown, said the travel spending out of southern Minnesota Congressman Brad Finstad’s office “absolutely raises my eyebrows.” The Minnesota Star Tribune went to Brown as an ethicist to respond to revelations that Finstad’s appropriated office budget has ncluded unusually large travel reimbursements to David FitzSimmons, his chief of staff. “House administration gives a great deal of latitude to individual offices to make decisions to best serve their constituencies,” Brown said. “But it’s not an open book to run up expenses in a way that best serves you individually.” FitzSimmons received $40,000 in travel reimbursements in 2023 and again in 2024 and $33,000 so far this year. Brown said the key ethics question on whether spending crosses a line involves its purpose. She noted that House ethics rules specify allows may be used only for official expenses. House members themselves — in this case Finstad himself — can be “personally liable for misspent funds,” Brown said. Although the revelations about FitzSimmons’ travel spending have raised questions of judgment, they have not gone as far as allegations of misspending. FitzSimmons knows his way around Congressional offices and how the system works. Earlier he was on the staffs of others in the Minnesota delegation, Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach. Since 2016, going back to his earlier positions, FitzSimmons has billed a total of $158,000 for travel reimbursement — the fourth highest sum among the 1,000-plus chiefs of staff during that period.
Finstad office profile
Finstad’s office suite is in the Rayburn House Office Building adjacent the Capitol. Amenities include a swimming pool and two gyms. A shooting range for Capitol Police, installed in 1965 when the building opened, has been abandoned for safety reasons. Each House member’s suite has a private bathroom. House members each has $1.6 million budget from appropriated tax dollars for staff and office operations. House staffs typically are eight to 12. Senior members have additional budgets and resources for separate staff and offices for the committees they head. The Finstad staff includes:
> Chief of staff: David FitzSimmons,
> Scheduler /operations director: Aaron Farris
> Legislative director : John Altendorf.
> Communications director: Jenny Luepke.
> Press secretarty: Abby Gost
> Rochester office: Aaron Eberhart.
House rules allow funds for each member to have two constituens services offices in the home district. Finstad’s:
> New Ulm. At 110 North Minnesota Street, Suite 5 (open weekdays).
> Rochester: At 2746 Superior Drive Northwest, Suite 100 (Tuesdays and Thursdays only).