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.