Is this the best use of taxpayer money?

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown was attending his mother's funeral and had no commercial flight options to get back in Washington in time for the vote on the stimulus bill.

No problem. We taxpayers are more than happy to foot the bill for this blatantly political use of our money by the White House, right?

Brown attended calling hours in Mansfield on Friday afternoon and evening for his mother, Emily Campbell Brown, 88, who died Feb. 2. Her funeral is this morning, leaving Brown little time and no commercial flight options to get to Washington and back so quickly.

The White House provided a government plane so Brown could return to the Capitol for the vote and then get back to Mansfield to be with his family and honor his mother, officials said. The trip is considered official business.

Brown's vote was considered necessary because it takes 60 votes to cut off debate in the Senate and conclude the matter.

The use of government funds for partisan political purposes is prohibited. That's why presidents have to pay (usually) for campaigning using Air Force I. (all presidents get around that stricture early and often).

But Brown's trip to the Capitol at taxpayer's expense is borderline. And now that it's public, expect Senator Brown to reimburse the government for the flight.