See below for a press release from the Democratic Party of Virginia. As you read it, think about the reasons why someone would be a Republican at this point, given that it’s led by such a corrupt slimeball as Donald Trump…
NEW: Sears Appears to Have Failed to Disclose Free Private Flights, Potentially Violating Virginia Law
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Another free flight? Earle-Sears can’t say
“Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ office and campaign can’t say whether she took a free flight in 2023 from a donor whose business was regulated by the state”
VIRGINIA – New reporting from the Richmond Times-Dispatch details how Winsome Earle-Sears appears to have failed to disclose a free private plane trip from a donor, potentially violating Virginia law.
Sears told supporters at an event, “I’ve got a plane to catch. I really do. I have to be in Abingdon a little bit later on today.” When asked if the trip was free and not disclosed as required, Sears’ team said, “We’re still trying to figure it out.”
“If Sears can’t keep her records straight or abide by ethics laws, how can Virginians trust her to lead the Commonwealth?” said DPVA Spokesperson Maggie Amjad.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Another free flight? Earle-Sears can’t say
- Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ office and campaign can’t say whether she took a free flight in 2023 from a donor whose business was regulated by the state.
- Earlier this year Earle-Sears revised an ethics filing to belatedly disclose that she took other free trips valued at more than $15,780, including a $6,000 trip to Israel.
- Asked if Earle-Sears made a free trip in 2023 between her home in Winchester and a Republican Party event in Abingdon without disclosing it as required on an ethics filing, her director of communications, David Crane, said: “We’re still trying to figure it out.”
- Earle-Sears’ travel between her home in Winchester and Abingdon on April 29, 2023 came on the same day and times as flights by a private plane owned by Gary Duncan, a Southwest Virginia car dealer. Earle-Sears’ staff would not respond to repeated questions asking if she flew on the car dealer’s plane that day or if she paid for the flight.
- Neither Earle-Sears’ campaign finance reports nor any filing with the state Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council report the flight, as required by law if she did not pay for the travel.
- Her director of communications and chief of staff also did not reply to two separate Freedom of Information Act requests for any records that might exist about her travels, although the act requires a response, even if to say there are no responsive records.
- Earlier this year Earle-Sears corrected her 2025 conflict of interest report after blogger Josh Stanfield reported that she had traveled to Israel on a trip paid for by an outside group, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, but had not disclosed this travel as required by ethics law. The blogger went to court in May to force the records out.
- On April 29, 2023, Earle-Sears was the keynote speaker at the mid-morning dedication of a prayer garden at a Front Royal church, about 25 miles from her home in Winchester.
- “I’ve got a plane to catch. I really do. I have to be in Abingdon a little bit later on today,” she told a group gathered in Front Royal that day for the dedication, according to a recording of the event published by a local news site.
- The plane is owned by Blue Sky Ventures, a firm based at a Christiansburg car dealership that was owned at the time by Gary Duncan and that lists Duncan as an officer or director in its State Corporation Commission filings.
- Duncan did not respond to questions about the flight.
- He gave Earle-Sears’ gubernatorial campaign $10,000 in June, and reported that.
- Elected officials must report travel paid for by someone else if it exceeds $100. The operating cost of flying a Pilatus-12 NG is roughly $1,125 an hour and charters go for about $2,100 an hour, aviation sources say.
- “Actions as a political candidate are generally subject to election and ethics laws, but might not be public records under FOIA because they concern political business as a candidate rather than public business as a sitting official,” he said. But he added, Earle-Sears’ staff still had to respond by now to FOIA requests, one dated July 28 and the other July 31.
