Critics say the trips present one-sided view of issues
After several years of declines in privately funded congressional travel, members and their staffs, including those from Louisiana, were once again flying frequently in 2011. LegisStorm, a nonpartisan group that compiles data on Congress, said members and their staffs took 1,600 trips last year at a cost of $5.8 million, the highest totals since 2006. That's the year lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to unduly influencing officials with lavish trips, prompting new limitations on freebie travel.
View full sizeStaffers working for Rep. Bill Cassidy, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Rep. Cedric Richmond and Rep. Steve Scalise last year toured the southern Louisiana sugar cane industry as guests of the Louisiana Sugar Cane Foundation. Here, sugar cane is loaded onto a wagon in Sorrel in January 2009. The Louisiana delegation reported 27 privately funded trips in 2011, seven by members and the rest by staffers, at a cost of $83,134. In 2010, the delegation reported 11 trips, costing $36,573
The most expensive trip listed by a Louisiana member in 2011 was a nine-day trip to Israel last November by Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden. The $18,994 trip was sponsored by the American Israel Education Association, which paid $2 million for 145 trips by members and staffers, including one by Jack Sumner Thompson, an aide to Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman.
Other privately funded trips by Louisiana members included an 11-day, $12,540 trip by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, to Turkey. It was financed by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.
Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, took a weeklong trip to China. The $10,621 cost was paid for by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, which advocates for strong Chinese-U.S. trade.
No Louisiana member ranks on the lists of top congressional member and staff travel, according to LegiStorm, and one member, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., reported no privately financed travel in 2001 by himself or his staff.
Critics say the trips present one-sided view of issues -- not surprisingly the view of the sponsoring group or organization. Supporters argue that the trips give members and staff a firsthand look at critical issues, including access to top leaders without forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab.
Boustany said his trip to China not only enabled him to press Chinese officials to deal with U.S. complaints of unfair trading and currency manipulation but to develop relationships with top government officials. That's beneficial, he said, because China has become Louisiana's top market for exports.
Fleming said through spokesman Doug Sachtleben that he got a close-up look at Israeli borders, showing the security issues posed by forcing Israel to give up land as part of potential peace settlements with the Palestinians. During the trip, Fleming got to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sachtleben said.
Cassidy spokesman John Cummins said the Turkey trip provided his boss with important insights into a country and region of critical importance to the United States. One positive from the trip, Cummings said, is that it enabled Cassidy to hold an export-import fair in Baton Rouge to explore trade opportunities in Turkey with Louisiana businesses.
Jock Friendly, LegiStorm's founder, said travel is important for members but shouldn't be paid for by advocacy groups and industry associations.
"Going on trips is essential for members of Congress who are voting on all sorts of complicated issues, such as whether or not to go war, and it's important they understand the world at large," Friendly said.
He agreed with Fleming that it's a good thing for members of Congress to see firsthand, for example, Israel's proximity to its Arab neighbors and the potential security risks of giving up territory.
"But there's another side of the story, and I'm not sure they are getting that in a trip paid by a group representing one side of the issue," Friendly said of the trips paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation.
Jim Clarke, senior vice president at the Center for Association Leadership, which represents some sponsors of congressional trips, said associations generally bring in members and staffers for a couple of hours to meet with members.
"And typically our associations have people that represent a variety of views on issues and it's more of an opportunity for a dialogue than anything else," Clarke said.
Under changes implemented after the Abramoff scandal, most of the domestic trips the associations arrange are one-day sessions, with overnights allowed only for trips from Washington west of the Mississippi River, Clarke said.
The privately funded trips are separate from CODELs, congressional delegation trips paid for by taxpayers.
In other privately funded trips taken by Louisiana members in 2011, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, and Fleming went to Simi Valley, Calif., for a conference at the Ronald Reagan library sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation. The foundation picked up the tab: $1,581 for Scalise and $3,183 for Fleming.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, reported two trips in 2011 sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute: a $175 trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for issue roundtables and a $344 trip to Tunica, Miss., for a conference on "Making Public Policy Work for Communities of Color."
Staffers who took privately funded trips in 2011 included Peter Gwynn-Stackson, an aide to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La, who attended a Humpty Dumpty Institute conference in New York. The institute, which works for better relationships between Congress and the United Nations, picked up the $822 tab.
Staffers working for Cassidy, Landrieu, Richmond and Scalise last year toured the southern Louisiana sugar cane industry as guests of the Louisiana Sugar Cane Foundation, which picked up the costs, ranging from $446.50 to $757.40 per staffer.
Three Louisiana Hill staffers, Ryan Evans, Austin Butterworth and Samantha McDonald, attended a meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, on hydraulic fracking and other energy issues sponsored by the American Exploration and Production Council. The three work for Boustany, Richmond and Fleming respectively.
Lynnel Brocato Ruckert, chief of staff to Scalise, and Phillip Joffrion, chief of staff to Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, attended a legislative retreat in Cambridge, Md. The $1,138 per-person cost was picked up by the Congressional Institute.
The most recent trip disclosed under mandatory congressional disclosure forms was a trip by Richmond chief-of-staff Virgil Miller Jan. 10-13 to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. The $1,583 cost was picked up by the Consumer Electronics Association.
"I decided to attend the trip to gain firsthand knowledge on the innovative technology industry, an industry that is impacted by Congress on a constant basis," Miller said. He said the sessions enabled him to meet with the head of the Federal Communications Commission and learn more about a hotly debated issue: how to regulate Internet piracy.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.450.1406.