Chip Flowers’ Pictures from Denali
So there’s been plenty of questions about where were Chip Flowers and his Deputy Erika Benner the days after their NAST conference ended in Anchorage. Flowers said he stayed in Anchorage to meet people. Benner went to Talkeetna to meet people. But she reserved a room for two people and certainly spent enough in food for two people. Still, we are meant to believe that they never saw each other until they flew out on the 17th. It is interesting, then, that Chip Flowers has pictures of him, a grizzly bear and views of Denali on his Facebook page dated September 15, 2012. From the NJ:
Flowers said the expenses for the extended stay in Anchorage were intended to save the state money because it allowed him to meet with bankers and other experts seeking state business without making another trip. He said Benner, who recently resigned her position as his deputy over misuse of her state credit card for private expenses, also held meetings after the conference.
Callahan said Flowers “spent the days following the conference including the Monday prior to his departure meeting with other state treasurers, investment banks and other financial experts. The Treasurer’s travel records have been thoroughly vetted and are available to the public at any time.” Callahan declined to provide details about any of those meetings, or evidence that they were held.
Except if you check Flowers’ Facebook page, there’s a number of pictures (click on any of them to get the bigger version) of Denali (from Talkeetna, it looks like):
You can see the start of this conversation from yesterday, here.
EDIT: Adding pictures from Erika Benner’s photos:
This one is a crop of Flowers’ panoramic view of Denali:
This is the one referenced by Jason and anon — if you click to see the bigger picture, you can see that this is from a charter plane ride up to a Denali glacier. We don’t know who the “we” is here.
h/t and We owe you a drink to an anonymous tipster.
Tags: Chip Flowers
Oh my. Benner’s facebook photo of Denali (from the same day) looks a lot like Chip’s wide landscape shot. This whole business is a little sad and depressing.
So busted.
Benner’s page says the picture: It was taken on the Ruth Ampitheater Glacier on Mt. McKinnley in Denali National Park, Alaska. We chartered a plane and landed on a glacier. It was amazing!
October 3, 2012 at 12:36pm via mobile
Who is “we” and are/were there any expenses turned in for a charter plane?
Also, her November 23, 2012 cover photo change on Facebook is EXACTLY the same pic on Chip’s page. Is someone screen saving this stuff?
To the layman (i.e. all of you who aren’t Ivy League educated like the esteemed People’s Treasurer) you wouldn’t be smart enough to identify that the picture above is not actually a picture of a grizzly bear.
That picture is actually a snapshot taken from one of the meetings that The Chipster had with bankers (in Denali National Park while landing on glaciers in private planes)… Clearly any educated individual can see from the photo that this picture was taken during his meeting with “Bear Stearns”!?!
RunCV for the win – Bear Stearns!
Ouch.
Was he just meeting with the bears, why not the bulls?
Isn’t Pamplona in Alaska?
The Iditarod is in Alaska, El Som, because it seems that someone’s story is going to the dogs here.
There are bull moose in Alaska though!
A pictures worth a thousand words.
I clicked on Jason’s link to her Facebook page, but I think she took it down. Sorry, but the picture is already out!
UPDATE FROM HIS FB PAGE:
NEWS: State Treasury and National Association of State Treasurers (part of the Council of State Governments) released a photo of the physical check (issued at the end of the fiscal year) showing that Treasurer Flowers trip to Alaska was not paid by Delaware taxpayers as stated in The News Journal. To view the check, please click http://treasury.delaware.gov/wp-content/uploads/NAST-Reimbursement.pdf. State Treasury and NAST will be issuing a statement this week on this very troubling news coverage. Treasurer Flowers scheduled to meet with publisher on
Wednesday.
SO – NAST wrote a check to the state for this amount – and what exactly does that mean?? and why where the charges put on the state card??? a prepay? those dates dont line up with the physical trip…. so it s a check for a certain amount – proves nothing
how can you have a REIMBURSEMENT check issued BEFORE the charges were even made???? the trip was 3 months AFTER the check was written and the memo line is crossed off…. hmmmm
drip…drip…drip
NAST didn’t write the check. The Council of State Governments did. Many state governmental organizations participate in CSG programs. Hell, some of those programs have been held here in Delaware. The state has gotten numerous checks from the CSG. And, um, the state treasury handles checks made payable to the state.
That check, in and of itself, proves nothing. Just one more hint that everything is Kosher, with, at best, limited proof.
Why can’t the guy just be square with the public? Why all these detours, carefully parsed sentences, non-denial denials? Only reason I can think if is that he must be lying and/or covering up. YMMV.
That’s the first picture I’ve seen of Delaware’s own Helen of Troy.
I STILL don’t remember her even after seeing her picture.
Maybe when the spokesperson said “let there be no question…” she meant “please, don’t ask me that question…”
Can anybody report back from the Democratic Party dinner tonight? Should be a mess.
The check date is 7/11/2013. The conference was in September 2012.
If NAST paid why did Flowers ask Benner to reimburse those charges to the state? Charges made with him while meeting with bankers on glaciers.
His statement says that the NAST reimbursed him at the end of the fiscal year. Which seems odd. The NAST has events quarterly, with one Annual Meeting. So how are we supposed to know that this is for the Alaska event, or for the other events or what? You have to pay dues to this group first (taxpayer money) and then then return parts of it to you in the form of travel dollars. Weird.
You would really know that this check was meant to cover his Alaska trip if there was some documentation that this check’s funds were applied to the account that was drawn down for this trip. So we’re back to the records that have been FOIA’ed and not released.
So where’s AG Biden in making sure these records get to the NJ?
@Gemma, I should have started a betting pool as to when those pictures would come down. The pictures in the text of this post are screen shots of what was on Flowers’ and Benner’s Facebook pages before anything got scrubbed.
@Cassandra-So funny she had an open Facebook page in the first place! I don’t get why he said he stayed in Anchorage for the extra days, when pictures proved otherwise. Also, you make a good point about the check. Wouldn’t this only cover a mere portion of all the NAST meetings during the year? So technically, since it was cut for the end of the fiscal year, isn’t it really for 2011 conferences? Plus, taxpayers sure paid for Ms. Benner’s trip.
Some are saying that Republican’s are behind this, but Chip selected her himself.
Who paid the $2014.55 difference?
Flowers said the expenses for the extended stay in Anchorage were intended to save the state money because it allowed him to meet with bankers and other experts seeking state business without making another trip.
You can’t save state money if it is NAST’s money.
Callahan said Flowers “spent the days following the conference including the Monday prior to his departure meeting with other state treasurers, investment banks and other financial experts. The Treasurer’s travel records have been thoroughly vetted and are available to the public at any time.” Callahan declined to provide details about any of those meetings, or evidence that they were held.
why lie about what he was doing if there is nothing to hide?
Chip’s running around this dinner joking about the whole thing. He is a cocky bastard!
Oh, let me guess. His Facebook account was “hacked,” right? Like Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account??? Hard to laugh off pictures. But then again, if he has a legitimate explanation, lets hear it.
All this Bull S sounds like the Kelly person is reading from the Lawyers brief (Chip himself). He is trying to polish all that is said by “his staff”. One has got to wonder what this is doing to the mood of the workiing rank n file in his office who are left to run the daily work of our fine state.
Compare the explanations in the NJ to the photo evidence:
Kelly Callahan, the spokeswoman for Flowers, says there should be no question that Benner’s trip to the Alaskan resort town of Talkeetna was strictly for state business, despite the fact that Flowers asked Benner to pay the state back for those and other charges “out of precaution.”
Benner traveled to Talkeetna, a town of fewer than 900 residents that is best known as the launch point for hikers climbing Mount McKinley, “for meetings with investment banks” pursuing state business related to Delaware’s $2 billion investment portfolio, Callahan said. Hotel records show that Benner checked into the lodge with another adult, but treasury officials insist she traveled alone.
“Often, she and other female members of the Treasury staff indicate to hotels that there are two in the room for safety purposes,” Callahan said. “The Treasury has verified that there were no additional parties traveling with Ms. Benner.”
Callahan would not provide evidence of other state trips where reservations showed two adults staying in a room when only one was, and The News Journal could find no other examples in earlier expense records obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Hotel records from the Captain Cook in Anchorage indicate that Benner was the only guest in her room. Callahan also would not provide a meeting schedule for Benner while she was staying in Talkeetna, nor would she provide any details about who Benner met with or topics they discussed.
Flowers did not order room service on the days that Benner was away at the lodge in Talkeetna, according to expense records he submitted for the trip. Flowers also did not submit any expenses for lunch or dinner.
Callahan said Flowers “spent the days following the conference including the Monday prior to his departure meeting with other state treasurers, investment banks and other financial experts. The Treasurer’s travel records have been thoroughly vetted and are available to the public at any time.” Callahan declined to provide details about any of those meetings, or evidence that they were held.
I think it is all about sex. Since one can no longer point fingers and say… “look, look over there. Look at him having sex with her, oh wow”, you have to find other ways… I doubt if he and Tom Gordan were roomies on the same trip and the same expenses showed up (breakfast meeting before housekeeping show up), that this would even be a news item; it would definitely not rate two talk shows worth of coverage…
The average male has sex once a day. The average female twice a day. That is standard and everyone knows it. That’s the average… which means if you personally aren’t having that much, then to meet the average other people are having to have more just to make up for your deficiency.
There is a reason the President’s wife (or husband if future polls predict reality) accompanies him … No one thinks it unfavored. We don’t have Xi throw a scene… “what you brought your wife!”…
Unmarried men deserve the same benefits as married partners. In fairness, it should certainly extend to unmarried women as well. In fact, it is safer for our dignitaries to bring theirs along with them, instead of shopping for it on location.
…and if the young lady is truly as beautiful as her picture shows, any man would be effin’ out of his mind NOT to take her… Just like Jack would be effin’ out of his mind to leave Carla behind when he goes to India…
And since we as a state long ago removed every Republican of consequence from our state government…. no longer do we Delawareans elect candidates who are “effin’ out of their minds”…. That is what the Republican Party is for.
Bottom line, is that since money has flowed back and forth between private and public accounts… If at the final accounting, taxpayer money is still owed, it gets paid up… End of scandal.
If Flowers ever provides a plausible explanation as to whose (meaning our) money was spent how, and proves that the taxpayers were not harmed, then maybe it will quiet down.
But this whole thing has been self-inflicted by Flowers, starting with the non-explanation explanations as to what Benner owed the state, how she ran up those charges, how her supervisor, who accompanied her all over the country, either ignored, forgave, or was blithely unaware of her transgressions, how the supervisor himself came to bill charges to the state that have not yet been accounted for, and how said supervisor has spun and talked in Clintonese rather than providing direct answers.
I couldn’t have cared less whether Flowers and Benner were a couple. But it looks like the billed charges impelled them to cover up whatever relationship they had despite the fact that the real issue is unauthorized spending of taxpayer dollars, not what their personal relationship was. I don’t know why they did that, ask them.
And the more crap that his supporters have tossed out there with not a single fact to back it up, the more this smells like a coverup.
The guy is State Treasurer. If nothing else, he has a fiduciary responsibility to keep track of how state dollars are spent. If he can’t accurately account for his own expenses billed to the taxpayer, why should anyone believe that he can do it for everyone else?
Amen.
DRIP…DRIP…DRIP…DRIP
Flowers’ August statement receiving Benner’s resignation: “While I certainly do not condone and strongly condemn the actions that resulted in Ms. Benner’s request, I am grateful that she has accepted full responsibility for her actions during this difficult period in her personal life, including full repayment of the amounts improperly charged to her state credit card (including interest). We are appreciative of her work in this office, which includes increasing the market value of the state’s $2 billion investment portfolio by over $30 million during her tenure. Though the road will be difficult, I hope that she can one day redeem herself in the hearts of Delawareans. I wish her well.” An amazing amount of hypocrisy.
The lies need to stop. Chip did nothing wrong and has explained the truth many times. This is a witch hunt.
What are the lies?
Saying his Alaska trip was not legitimate is a big lie.
I don’t see anyone saying his trip to Alaska was not legitimate. Traveling to a conference is certainly legitimate. But if he took a recreational side trip that taxpayers paid for, well, that doesn’t seem legitimate to me as a taxpayer. Perhaps female employees of the Treasury refer to themselves as “we” in their FB posts as a safety measure. Or perhaps Flowers posted a picture of a grizzly bear and said he saw it during his visit to Denali National Park as a joke.
NAST paid for him, not taxpayers. His records have been thoroughly vetted and are public records. The accounting director looked at them and found nothing.
witch hunt? the witches keep running at us. If anything, this has been a witch dodge.
In the June repayment, Benner also reimbursed the state for more than $1,220 in hotel and car charges made in Alaska in September 2012. Benner and Flowers made the trip to Anchorage for the annual meeting of the National Association of State Treasurers.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131006/NEWS02/310060060/State-Treasurer-nothing-hide-
The People’s Treasurer was present at Benner’s meetings at known banking centers Denali National Park and Talkeetna, Alaska but demanded a $1,220 reimbursement from Benner for those meetings!
drip…drip…drip…drip…drip…drip
I seem to recall Flowers trying to pin some of Benner’s state credit card use on Rep. Trey Paradee:
Finally, with respect to the statements by her ex-boyfriend Rep. Trey Paradee on this blog regarding our interaction, he is aware of his unsolicited and unprovoked statements made toward me and my team relating to his proposed bill and I responded accordingly. Quite frankly, it was very inappropriate for him to try to work a bill relating to our office when the individual assigned to the bill was his girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend). We have taken steps in our office to ensure that practice involving a lawmaker will never happen again. As stated earlier, we are already conducting an internal investigation involving multiple state agencies and while Rep. Paradee may have some issues relating to Ms. Benner ending their relationship, we are not going to direct state resources to achieve personal actions against former individuals involved a relationship. Rep. Paradee should be grateful for our professionalism since a majority of Ms. Benner’s credit card transactions occurred while the two were dating (using the date he referenced in this blog).
Yes, Mr. Flowers, “we” are all very grateful for your “professionalism.” However, I don’t see any pictures from Denali on Trey Paradee’s Facebook page at a time when Paradee was claiming to be 250 miles away in Anchorage, that was your Facebook page, Mr. Flowers. Now that’s what I call “inappropriate.”
His records have been thoroughly vetted and are public records.
Demonstrably not true. There are records the NJ has FOIA’ed and has not received. And if they really are public, perhaps you can point us to a link where we can all see them.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/denali-national-park-region/720718
By Air
McKinley Flight Tours, also known as Talkeetna Aero Services (tel. 888/733-2899 or 907/683-2899; http://www.talkeetna-aero.com), offers the only scheduled air service to Denali from its base in Talkeetna, or from Anchorage (summer only). Flights are 1-day packages that include flightseeing on the way, a bus tour at the park, a box lunch, and ground transfers. It’s the only way to “do” Denali in a day. The package from Anchorage is $595, from Talkeetna $495; they need at least four passengers.
http://www.talkeetnaaero.com/denali-day-trips-anchorage.htm
Denali flightseeing
*Links to interesting information:
Denali National Park
Merrill Field
Anchorage
National Park Service
Denali National Park* is one of the top destinations in Alaska. The vast, pristine wilderness full of wildlife, mountains, glaciers, rivers, and lakes will take your breath away. You can see the Park in one day from Anchorage with McKinley Flight Tours.
The Denali Park Day Trip includes:
Round trip air from Merrill Field* in Anchorage*, returning the same evening
McKinley scenic enroute to the Park
Tickets for the 6-8 hour National Park Service* bus trip deep into Denali National Park
Deluxe box lunch
Ground transfers in Denali National Park
ITINERARY
Depending on weather conditions and National Park bus tour length, the exact times of your itinerary may vary. However, in order to guarantee your
timely arrival at Denali National Park, you must check in at 6:40 am.
6:40 am: Check in at Take Flight Alaska office at Merrill Field in Anchorage.
8:30 pm (approximate time): Return to the Talkeetna State Airport.
View detailed itinerary.
Prices: $635 per person from Anchorage
Departures beginning 8:30 AM
Call for family or group rates
ITINERARY DENALI DAY TRIPS FROM ANCHORAGE
Depending on weather conditions and National Park bus tour length, the exact times of your itinerary may vary. However, in order to guarantee your timely arrival at Denali National Park, you must check in at 6:40 am.
6:40 am: Check in at Take Flight Alaska at Merrill Field in Anchorage. Our pilot will greet you. The address of Take Flight Alaska is 1740 East 5th Avenue, Anchorage AK 99501 (across from Peggy’s Cafe).
6:50 am: Depart Merrill Field.
7:20 am: Arrive at Talkeetna State Airport. Passengers do not disembark. (Not all flights stop in Talkeetna.)
7:25 am: Depart Talkeetna State Airport. (Not all flights stop in Talkeetna.)
Depending on weather and time, your flight will include a scenic flight of Mt McKinley.
8:30 am: Arrive at Healy River State Airport. Our staff will greet you and provide ground transportation.
9:00 am: Arrive at Denali National Park Wilderness Access Center. Your driver will provide your bus pass and lunch.
9:30 am: Depart Wilderness Access Center on a National Park bus for a narrated tour to Eielson Visitor Center.
5:15 pm: Return to Denali National Park Wilderness Access Center. The length of the bus tour will vary depending on wildlife and other conditions. The time of your return to the Wilderness Access Center is approximate.
5:30 pm: Depart Wilderness Access Center. Our driver will meet you and provide ground transportation.
6:15 pm: Depart Healy River State Airport. Depending on weather and time, your flight will include a scenic flight of Mt McKinley.
7:20 pm: Arrive at Talkeetna State Airport. Passengers do not disembark. (Not all flights stop in Talkeetna.)
7:25 pm: Depart Talkeetna State Airport. (Not all flights stop in Talkeetna.)
8:00 pm: Return to Merrill Field.