Taxpayers pick up tab for conferences in California, union meetings
Between 2007 and 2009, Pennsylvania’s state legislators spent $52,564.80 on flights within the state and to special legislative conferences and presentations around the country. Some waited until the day beforehand to book their flights, and some lacked receipts for flights costing hundreds of dollars.
Of the 59 state legislators who requested reimbursement, more than $42,000 was spent by 42 Democrats in the House and Senate, and 17 Republicans spent a little under $12,300.
State legislators are granted daily per diems and expense reimbursements as part of their compensation package, but oversight and control of transportation spending for state legislators is limited, at best.
According to state Senate rules, “travel allowances or reimbursements may be paid to a Member who is engaged in travel in the performance of legislative duties,” but what constitutes legislative activity is unclear, such as how many legislative conferences a member may attend in a single year or what counts as a legislative conference. House rules are even less clear, with members’ trips being decided on a case-by-case basis.
“’Legislative travel’ is abused by many lawmakers and does not require accountability or oversight. Officials do not inform constituents by playing golf at Nemacolin, bathing at the Homestead Spa, or eating Sushi in New York City with lobbyists,” said Eric Epstein, coordinator for RockTheCapitol. “You don’t have travel outside of Harrisburg to arrive at the conclusion the legislature is out of control.”
For example, State Rep. Mark Cohen (D – Philadelphia), also the majority caucus chairman, attended the Workers’ Voice Conference in Chicago, an event hosted by the AFL-CIO, costing taxpayers $653.65.
State Reps. Jim Wansacz (D – Lackawanna) and Jake Wheatley (D – Allegheny) were reimbursed for trips to the American Council of Young Political Leaders in California, at a cost of $706.50 and $562.40, respectively.
State Rep. John Evans (R – Crawford), was reimbursed for nine flights costing $3,482.84, making him the highest spender in the General Assembly, including one flight to the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2007.
“We were looking at enhancing constituent services,” said Mr. Evans. “It was the advent of Facebook and we were looking at ways to develop technology to save taxpayer money. I believe I went another year but it was paid out of my campaign because I was doing other things.”
Legislators are also reimbursed for all flights within Pennsylvania, including travel between district offices and Harrisburg, which Mr. Epstein questioned, arguing even intrastate travel should not be covered by taxpayers because “in the real world, workers pay the price to commute, and don’t have the luxury of driving a state issued vehicle into a taxpayer subsidized garage.”
But even if legislators are flying across the country, all upset taxpayers can do right now is elect someone else, said Robin Hittie, chief counsel at the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission. The state Ethics Act only allows them to act when existing rules and legislation has been violated.
“The Ethics Act does not spell out every type of conference that a public official or public employee may attend,” said Ms. Hittie in a statement. “One must look to the other legal sources that apply to that public official or public employee to see what is permitted in that regard. If the public official or public employee goes to a conference that is not authorized under the rules or laws that apply to him then the Ethics Act can apply to say that there’s been a violation.”
And each of the legislative caucuses handles travel reimbursement differently. The House Democrats, as of December 2008, have been denied out-of-state travel under Rep. Todd Eachus (Luzerne), while the House Republicans handle each travel incidence on a case-by-case basis. The Senate Republicans process all travel expenses through the chief clerk’s office but there is no pre-approval process for the conference being attended.
“There is no formal restriction on that kind of thing,” said Erik Arneson, spokesperson for Senate Republicans. “There are requirements that it needs to be related to performance of duties but there’s not a limit of two trips or two conferences or something like that. The caucus leader doesn’t have approval over things like that, but I’m not aware of any trips of concern.”
And Steve Miskin, spokesperson for House Republicans, said aside from the current method, new legislation proposed by state Rep. John Maher (R – Allegheny) aims to make audits of expenses more stringent, part of the Pennsylvania Agenda for Trust in Harrisburg (PATH) legislation in the works.
“I don’t think many of our members did multiple trips. Each caucus sets its own rules about travel,” said Mr. Miskin. “The leadership accounts go toward leadership, that’s what pays for these trips so members of the caucus are able to learn from their counterparts in other states. Eventually it does get audited.”
