Sears has repeatedly refused to respond to FOIA requests dealing with her financial disclosures
 
Andrew Cain, Richmond Times-Dispatch: “It's going to be interesting to see what the final determination is on this mystery flight”
 

VIRGINIA – During this week’s Virginia Press Room Podcast, Virginia reporters Andrew Cain and Michael Pope discussed how Winsome Earle-Sears has refused to disclose secret flights and gifted trips, potentially violating Virginia ethics laws. 
 
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Winsome Earle-Sears appears to have failed to disclose at least two free private plane flights from a donor “whose business was regulated by the state.” This follows Sears failing to disclose – as required by ethics law – gifted trips valued at more than $15,780. 
 
LISTEN HERE: The Virginia Press Room 
 
Andrew Cain, Richmond Times-Dispatch: Well, for decades, Virginia has had a reputation of having sort of loose campaign finance or ethics requirements. The rule always being, anything goes, as long as you disclose. Well, problems arise if you don't disclose. Our Dave Ress reported recently that the Lieutenant Governor's office and her campaign can't say whether Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears accepted a free flight in 2023 from a car dealer who, of course, was in a business that was regulated by the state.
 
Dave found out through records requests that Earle-Sears travel between Winchester and Abingdon on April 29, 2023 – coincided with flights by a private plane owned by Gary Duncan, a southwest Virginia car dealer. 
 
And you might recall that Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears already had revised one ethics filing earlier this year to disclose other free trips that totaled $15,000 in value, including a trip to Israel. So it's going to be interesting to see what the final determination is on this mystery flight.
 
[...] 
 
Cain: Right now, I will say the big picture is, for folks who have been around doing this for several decades, they have cleaned it up quite a bit as far as what people accept it used to be the wild west in Virginia, where people were accepting freebies all the time, lavish meals, trips to go see NFL games, trips to casinos. It used to be a lot more wide open than it is now. They're not doing that to nearly the same degree they once did, but some folks need to be prodded to complete their disclosures.
 
Pope: Clearly, some people need to be prodded to fill out their disclosures. 

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