Way back in 2009, when fiscal austerity was still in vogue, Congressman Tom Price was among the most hawkish lawmakers on the issue of government spending. “This is just another example of fiscal irresponsibility run amok,” he cried on CNBC, denouncing the use of private jets by Congress. But at some point, the former orthopedist lost his way. Earlier this year, after he was nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, reports emerged that Price had “traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.” Subsequent reports fingered Price for getting “a sweetheart deal” on a biotech investment and for introducing legislation to benefit a medical company that he had invested in and that later contributed to his campaign.

Yes, the good life seemed to go to Price’s head, and the gravy train hasn’t stopped since he joined the Trump administration. Earlier this week, we learned that Price had taken a page from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s playbook and decided to spend thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on private jets when commercial flights (or Amtrak, or a car) would have sufficed. Now, new details of Price’s jet habit reveal that the initial flights flagged by Politico weren’t just a one-time expense. According to a follow-up report, Price has taken at least 24 flights on chartered planes since early May, at an estimated cost of $300,000 to taxpayers. In the second week of September alone, the H.H.S. secretary reportedly took five flights that clocked in at around $60,000, on trips to Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, the latter of which is approximately 140 miles from D.C.

Unsurprisingly, there was backlash. But perhaps we all judged too soon? Maybe Price—whose predecessor in her five-plus years on the job took one chartered plane to a remote area of Alaska that was otherwise unreachable—had a really good reason that he didn’t get the chance to explain? Like that he simply couldn’t bear the idea of potentially being delayed at an airport for a commercial flight, like some kind of commoner? Per The Washington Post: