Dole: My Vacation in the State Means I'm in Touch with North Carolinians

October 11, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. – In another useless attempt to defend her absenteeism from North Carolina, Elizabeth Dole is now trying to use her two-week mountain vacation in the state to deflect accusations that she is out of touch with voters. A Roxboro Courier-Times story today mentions a recent article from the Winston-Salem Journal that found that Dole has spent just 13 percent of her time in North Carolina since being elected to the Senate in 2002, including just 20 days in 2005 and a paltry 13 days in 2006, when she chaired the NRSC. Dole first tried to defend her absenteeism by claiming that her Senate office could not gather all of the paperwork that would accurately document her trips to North Carolina. But in today’s Roxboro Courier-Times story, Dole claims that her trips to North Carolina have not all been recorded because they were not all taxpayer-funded trips.

“First she said her office couldn’t find the documents to prove she was in the state more often. Now she says that her vacation with her husband should count when considering her time working on behalf of North Carolinians,” said Hagan Campaign Communications Director Colleen Flanagan. “What’s next? She drove through North Carolina on the way to her condo in Bal Harbour, Florida, so that should be taken into account, too?

“Living in the Watergate Hotel, voting with President Bush’s failed policies 92% of the time and spending just 13 days in North Carolina in a given year only convinces people that Elizabeth Dole is part of the problem, not that she is part of the solution. How can you be effective for the people and the state that you rarely see? While we’re pleased that the Doles have chosen to contribute to the local economy by vacationing here, North Carolinians deserve a senator who spends more time with them rather than a few days leaf-peeping in the mountains.”

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