Nov 9, 2007 -- AP: Missouri lawmakers taking fewer privately financed trips
By Sam Hananel

Missouri lawmakers have taken fewer privately financed trips this year, part of a trend triggered by a series of ethics scandals that brought greater scrutiny on the practice and moved Congress to restrict the influence of special interest groups.

Only four of the state's nine House members took trips paid for by private groups this year, compared with seven in 2006, a review of travel records shows. Neither of Missouri's Senators took any privately funded trips over the same period.

Reps. Kenny Hulshof, a Columbia Republican, and Russ Carnahan, a St. Louis Democrat, were the only members who took more of those trips this year than in 2006.

Overall, the rate of private travel in Congress declined sharply last year after two prominent Republicans - former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, of Texas, and former Rep. Bob Ney, of Ohio - were ensnared in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation.

Both took golfing trips to Scotland financed by Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last year to public corruption charges for seeking to buy influence in Congress.

"In the aftermath of the last election and the Jack Abramoff scandal, everyone was hesitant," said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan group that backs travel reforms.

"There were questions about what rules were going to be and how they were going to be interpreted," McGehee said. "Nobody wanted to be the next poster child for having taken privately financed travel that looked bad."

New House rules that took effect in March require lawmakers to provide detailed descriptions of the purpose of trips and seek advance approval from the House ethics committee. They also prohibit companies or groups that employ lobbyists from paying for more than a one- or two-night stay during the trip.

A similar lobbying and ethics reform measure passed in the Senate took effect in September.

This year, Hulshof took three privately funded trips, sponsored by the National Biodiesel Board, the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Farmers Union. In all, the groups paid $3,243 for transportation, meals and lodging expenses.

That's an increase from just one trip in 2006. Hulshof spokesman Scott Baker said the trips to Orlando, Fla., Tucson, Ariz., and San Antonio were all to attend events related to the new farm bill.

"U.S. Rep. Hulshof doesn't take many trips, but he believes trips like these are worthy in that they are a good way to hear from folks who may not be able to travel to D.C. or may not otherwise reach out to their representative," Baker said.

Rep. William Lacy Clay, a St. Louis Democrat, also took three paid trips this year, down from four last year. His most expensive was a $24,020 weeklong trip with his wife to an educational forum in China sponsored by the nonprofit Aspen Institute, which works to educate lawmakers on national and foreign policy affairs.

Clay said the trip gave him a better understanding of foreign trade issues, climate change and "the very serious ecological problems that are the byproduct of China's rapid economic growth."

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, a Springfield Republican, took no privately funded trips in 2006 or 2007. Blunt and other members of his staff have been among Congress' most frequent travelers in past years, taking more than $350,000 in private travel from 2000-2005, according to the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity.

Other House members who declined privately funded trips this year include Republican Reps. Sam Graves and Jo Ann Emerson, and Democratic Reps. Emanuel Cleaver and Ike Skelton.

Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican from suburban St. Louis, took two trips this year, the same number as last year. The Club for Growth, a group that supports limited government and lower taxes, paid $1,591 for Akin to travel to its April convention at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach in Florida to speak on a panel about economic issues.

"The purpose is not to try to convince members of Congress to vote a certain way," club spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said of the trip. "It's not a lobbying activity."

Earlier this year, the club entered a consent judgment to pay a civil penalty of $350,000 to the Federal Election Commission for failing to register as a political committee and report how it takes in and spends money. The FEC found that the club spent at least $1.28 million between 2000 and 2004 advocating the election or defeat of federal candidates.

Emerson and other lawmakers said the decrease in travel may also be related to the longer work weeks that Democrats have scheduled this year, leaving less time for travel anywhere except back to home districts.

McGehee, of the Campaign Legal Center, pushed for an outright ban on all privately funded travel but "we just couldn't get there."

She and other reform groups believe lawmakers benefit from traveling to sites affected by legislation, but that the trips should be publicly financed so they are accountable to taxpayers.

"The problem with these privately financed trips is you have these conflicts of interest," McGehee said.

The state's junior senator, Democrat Claire McCaskill, has yet to take a privately funded trip, though spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said she has no policy against them.

"Before she would ever take a trip, she would adhere to a rigorous test to make sure it was ethically sound and the info gained would have would be an increased benefit for the people of Missouri," Marsh said.

Republican Sen. Kit Bond supports the tougher ethics rules passed by Congress this year but said they "will have little practical effect for me because I usually travel on government business."