Breaking: Delaware Legislative Travel
Update:
The News Journal published Ginger Gibson’s article today, “Legislator’ travel tabs often missing”.
State lawmakers can travel when and where they want on the taxpayer’s tab.
snip
Getting into a jet at taxpayers’ expense isn’t difficult in either chamber. In fact, no one interviewed for this article could recall a time when a travel request had been turned down.
And I’ll agree with State Representative Lavelle (R) that lawmakers should follow that same travel rules as other state employees.
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Tomorrow morning, The News Journal will be running an article about Delaware State Legislatures travel. They currently have a nifty little table with names, party affiliation, chamber, number of trips and total dollar amount.
Some quick analysis.
- The data looked at 73 Senators and Representatives: 33 Republicans and 40 Democrats.
- The Republicans take up 64% of the budget for $126,549.
- The Republicans have gone on nearly twice as many trips at the Democrats, 111 to 64.
Tags: Delaware, Delaware, Democrats, Republicans, travel
Republican hypocrisy..Shocking! And here I thought Republican were all about getting the fat out of the budget. Well, let me know when the Charlie Copeland’s Caesar Rodney Institute has a cow. I’m sure they’ll be calling for Republican heads to roll.
Donna Stone spent $3,226 traveling to Philly! Classic!
Joe Miro spent over $1,500 on two trips that he could not bother to fill out the paper work on.
Deborah Hudson blew off filling out the paper work for two trips as well. On for $881 and the other for
$1,458. Real budget hawks.
Jason330, the Republicans are always for a smaller gov’t as long as it doesn’t affect them.
Apparently there is a difference between the parties. 😉
When Republicans talk about wasteful spending everyone should just start laughing.
How does one spend $3,226 on the trip to Philly? Did Stone travel by Sedan Chair and eat nothing but caviar the whole time?
I hope every Senator and Representative (Ds and Rs) will come forward with documentation for their “Unknown” trips.
Maybe Republicans went to the Chris Christie school of travel expensing.
Look at it this way , while they’re out of town they dont do any damage here.
This is such old news. If you went to the CRI website delaware spends you would have known about this weeks ago. I didn’t report on it because it didn’t further my partisan agenda.
Republican David, could you post a link on your post that covered the DE Legislature Travel issue? Please also highlight the paragraph where you call out the Republicans.
Right, RD. And CRI didn’t call attention to it b/c it doesn’t further their partisan agenda either.
Did CRI post any particulars about legislative staff travel, or is that something that doesn’t suit former House Rethug staffer Garrett Wozniak’s current ‘non-partisan’ agenda?
Garrett: Inquiring minds want to know: Did you travel on the taxpayer’s dime while serving as ‘Political Operator’ for the House Majority Caucus?
Not that you partisan bloggers are into facts, but Donna Stone and Debbie Hudson were the national chairs of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments, respectively, during that time and expected to travel to events. They, along with Terry Spence, also brought major events to Delaware during that time which more than made up the cost difference.
So what’s the excuse for McBride and Keeley?
As chairs of NCSL or CSG, they could/should have had NCSL or CSG pay for their travels instead of the State. Serving as chairs of NCSL committees have long been ways of justifying exorbitant travel, and they are positions that are sought after, not positions that are thrust upon them.
In other words, it is disingenuous to argue that they traveled so much because they had positions within NCSL. They sought those positions precisely so that they COULD travel. And for a phony like Debbie Hudson (Capano, but don’t call her that), who cries crocodile tears for the ‘overtaxed’ billionaires in her District while touring the country on the taxpayers’ dime, to campaign against waste, fraud and abuse, is the height of Rethug hypocrisy.
One of Delaware’s most underreported stories is wasteful spending by legislators AND ESPECIALLY by staff under Rethuglican Speaker Terry Spence. Accordingly, I call on current Speaker Gilligan to release travel records for both Representatives AND staff for the past decade. It will be interesting reading. Wonder if CRI’s Garrett Wozniak racked up any frequent flyer miles…
“Donna Stone and Debbie Hudson were the national chairs of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments, respectively, during that time and expected to travel to events.”
Delaware lawmakers of both parties have long been big into these organizations, serving as national officers, to no particular benefit to Delaware taxpayers. This is no reason for their expenses, just another excuse for traveling on our dime.
And speaking as someone who goes to and helps organize more than my fair share of professional conferences, I can tell you that if you are attending a conf with a room rate of $300 you are at a conference that presumes you have a pretty hefty expense account. Nonetheless, it is OK to go to these and in a place like Boston there are definitely cheaper digs in walking distance of the venue. It is a question of priorities and how you view other people’s money, right?
I don’t know who does the News Journal’s investigations but I’ve never attended a CSG conference and I’ve never been in Quebec in my life. I’ve attended three extremely useful NCSL conferences the last of which was in Philadelphia. For that I paid my own expenses and the $500.00 registration fee out of my own pocket because, as I told Ginger Gibson, these NCSL conferences are invaluable to gather information and ideas in concert with State Legislators from all 50 states and territories. This information and knowledge benefits the citizens of Delaware so I felt obligated to attend at my own expense. Still haven’t been to Quebec or attended a CSG conference anywhere in the US or elsewhere.
John Kowalko
Boy, oh boy, Republicans complain greatly about out of control gov’t spending, but as soon as they get caught doing it, they’ve got an excuse readily at hand.
Thanks anon.
Where does Delaware Spends break out travel expenses? I couldn’t find it.
John, you bring up a good point. A report is only as good as the data put into it — garbage in, garbage out.
Geezer, I couldn’t figure out how to break it out from Delaware Spends either.
Maybe if CRI spent more time running the data through some spreadsheets, and less holding press conferences, it would get more credit for its research and less criticism for its policy biases. The “R” doesn’t stand for research, does it?
The receipts shown for John’s entries include a whole bunch for Terry Spence who was living large at least 2 Caribbean locations…
So Donna Stone went to the same meeting in Boston that John Kowalko did, but she spent 315/night at the Four Seasons and Kowalko spent 195/night at the group rate at the Sheraton.
Hmmm.
Actually, the News Journal listing for Kowalko is all screwy. But the good thing is that if you look at his pdf of expense… It has like 3 pages for John, and then all of Terry Spence’s for the rest of the 74 pages…
Good stuff in there. Ritz-Carlton in Boca??? Nice.
What’s interesting here is that even if the state is picking up the hotel expense, these “budget hawks” should have requested a state government rate, which most of the hotels have (similar to the Federal government rate I get when I’m on travel). On top of that, they usually can get a tax exemption for the hotel taxes. I’ve stayed at many 5 star hotels while on business, but only paid the government rate (GSA-rate). But then again, if you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it. Let’s see how many of these politicos offer to reimburse the state. My guess – NONE.
So the gov’t associations don’t meet in place like Worcester MA, Erie PA, Gary IN, Detroit MI, Greensboro NC or Youngstown OH?
No, apparently they are in swanky hotels in warm places, Like Boca and San Juan, PR.
Those are supposed to be records? A bunch of badly photocopied, barely readable receipts with completely illegible scrawls across them? Give me a break. If I tried to turn in something like that for my job, my boss would have my head.
anon, it would be nice if they did an Excel travel and expense form like almost almost most companies do.
The solution is to have an Inspector General.
Stop the nonsense on both sides. The Democrats run the state, will it happen?
Mike Protack
Budget Hawk, I mean hypocrit, Joe Miro:
LINK for the above quote
Dear partisan liberal bloggers with an agenda:
Legislative travel = .002833% of the budget. Less than the cost of one Ruth Ann Minner junket.
Shorter anon: IOKIYAR
LOL anon LOL.
First there was “a good reason” why they travelled. Now, we shouldn’t worry about it because “it’s just change.”
Go down to the Wilmington outlets and throw teabags in the river, you beckhead.
Lol – UI Nailed it.
Dear anon Republican apologist. Do you think someone like Miro – who claims to be a budget hawk in search of cuts “to services” should feel like a slapped ass right now? Okay then.
This isn’t a partisan issue so much, they’re all screwing all of us and neither theirs nor your affiliation matters. The legislature acts as a body, and when that ship sinks it has 62 people at the helm …
According to Miro, we are so lucky that he forsakes his family and goes to Mohegan Sun, Atlantic City and Los Vegas to learn about how awesome gambling is. For some reason I don’t feel lucky.
Republican David, still waiting.
Could you post a link on your post that covered the DE Legislature Travel issue? Please also highlight the paragraph where you call out the Republicans.
Some Democrats aren’t looking so good here either.
Excuse me. Democrats were not renting their garments and putting ash on their heads for “serivce cuts” while living large like Joe Miro and Donna Stone.
Ah, the good things that result from FOIA being extended to the Delaware Legislature. All of us who successfully supported opening the DE Legislature to more public scrutiny deserve to be patted on the back. It’s because of us that stories like Gibson’s are now possible.
Good job, friends!
They weren’t rending their garments, either.
Why is this “breaking news”? This report has been out for well over a week.
FOIA is not enough, Inspector General is the real deal.
Mike Protack
You know Mike, we already have an Inspector General. He is named Tom Wagner, the state auditor, that is if he ever got off his ass before the News Journal does his job for him.
Delaware Dem, I think Mike Protack is looking to increase the size of the state government.
If the current Delaware State Auditor were ‘really’ doing his job then nobody would even be calling for an Inspector General.
Also, why is the public made aware of these shenanigans via an investigation by the News Journal rather than by an investigation by the Delaware State Auditor who has held the office for 21 years?
In my announcement letter for State Auditor that I mailed to democratic legislators and other democratic party leaders I wrote: “To paraphrase a line from the television show Star Trek ‘if elected Auditor I will boldly go where no Delaware State Auditor has gone before'”
No wonder a couple democratic legislators give me dirty looks when they see me and walk away when I greet them with a friendly hello.
Ken Matlusky,CPA
Democrat for Delaware State Auditor
Why is Roger Roy still traveling as a state legislator? Where is Copelands travel expenses? i know hes retired but Lofink and Roy are still listed as is John Still
Actually, women is neither an impossible category nor asserted through infinite multiples, but rather is, instead, an event inherent in modernity which is to say that the evental quality of women cannot be addressed by changing the scale or units of analysis in play. ,
Another reason you will see certain legislators going to conferences is its a way for them to get away with each other for booty calls.