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Multi-Millionaire McCaskill Campaigns For U.S. Senate in $3 Million Private Plane

October 20, 2006

JEFFERSON CITY _ Claire McCaskill has been campaigning for the U.S. Senate in a $3 million luxury aircraft owned by another one of her husband’s sham companies registered in Delaware, a state with no sales tax or personal property tax.

Arizona Aircraft, Inc., which sold the plane to McCaskill’s husband, advertised the plane as “LOADED.” McCaskill’s 2001 Pilatus PC-12 Turboprop aircraft has “every option available” including four television displays, “tasteful” off white leather seats, top-of-the-line carpeting, Burlwood cabinetry, a compact disc player and other amenities you need when you’re campaigning to raise taxes on Missouri families. McCaskill has also used the private plane in her official capacity as State Auditor.

Public records obtained by the Missouri Republican Party show that McCaskill’s wealthy husband, Joseph Shepard, created Timesaver, LLC, which owns the Pilatus aircraft, in July 2006. The phone number listed for Timesaver on the Pilatus’s FAA registration application, also public, directs callers to Yacht Registry Ltd, in Wilmington, Delaware, which is advertised as a “tax shelter.” http://www.delreg.com/yadv.cfm

“Claire McCaskill’s $3 million luxury aircraft is another example of how out of touch she is with the hard-working taxpayers who helped pay for the aircraft and it raises additional questions about whether she and her husband pay taxes,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “McCaskill wants Missouri voters to believe she’s riding around rural Missouri in a rented Recreational Vehicle, but she’s not fooling anyone.”

As the Kansas City Star reported on Wednesday, McCaskill and her millionaire developer husband have a family fortune of between $13 million and $30 million amassed though taxpayer-financed tax credits, hundreds of government subsidized real estate partnerships and an offshore tax shelter in Bermuda. In fact, state financial records show activity exceeding $10 million in Missouri Housing Development Commission financing that helped boost McCaskill’s business interests.

“McCaskill wants everyone else to pay higher taxes, but she won’t reveal whether she and her husband pay them,” Sloca said. “It’s clear from the Kansas City debate that McCaskill desperately wants people to stop asking about her tax problems, yet she continues to conceal her family’s tax return. If McCaskill has nothing to hide, why won’t she release the tax returns?”

For more information on McCaskill’s luxury plane click here.