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Rep Bart Gordon (D, TN-06) junketing to Europe for no real reason?

"Because he can" is actually only a real reason when taxpayer money isn\'t involved.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  February 19th, 2009 at 06:28 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Apparently, he’s going to be part of quite the throng. Via Red County and Dave Evans for Congress comes this WaPo report:

Hurry, hurry, hurry. Congress will begin its 2009 travel season in earnest this weekend with two spectacular codels — trips for House congressional delegations — that are not to be missed.

On Saturday, Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House delegation to NATO’s parliamentary assembly, and his wife will lead a delegation of 13 lawmakers — plus 10 spouses — on a fine nine-day jaunt starting at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.

[snip]

The huge number of members, spouses and staffers, plus military escorts, will require taking one of the bigger military jets, but we’re told these trips are an important use of taxpayer money.

No, of course he has no obvious legislative reason to go. As Dave Evans further notes:

Bart Gordon serves as the Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, which has jurisdiction over non-defense related research and development (R&D) at a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He serves as senior member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which is responsible for regulating the quality of the air Americans breathe, cleaning up toxic waste sites, providing health care to children and senior citizens, protecting the safety of our food and drugs to promoting a vibrant telecommunications industry and preventing fraud in our financial markets.He also serves as a member of the Subcommittee on Health and member of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

Dave then goes on to make a few pointed comments about how he tended to fly coach when he got to go abroad.

Now, it’s perfectly understandable why Gordon thought that he could go off to Paris and Vienna: he’s a twelve-term Congressman with a respectable committee chair, isn’t he? That’s hard work; surely the voters understand that he’s entitled to one measly little European ski trip, even if his Party is planning to put the screws to all those Tennessee ‘foreign’ auto plants. Mind you, you have to assume that: Gordon isn’t talking about this. Red County, again:

The usually politically deft Gordon has compounded the problem by failing to provide any public communication about his trip to Europe. No statement from his office, no press release to the local press. And calls to his office have apparently yielded the obligatory “we have been instructed not to comment on the Congressman’s schedule.”

[snip]

Gordon himself and his office have made no public comment about this purported trip to Europe. Other reports in the press have him in Europe now, but it’s a fact that simply cannot be confirmed with the stonewalling Congressman’s office. You would think that it would be in the Congressman’s best interests to disclose the truth of his whereabouts and activities, no matter what that truth might be.

Or he just doesn’t think that it’s worth addressing. After all, don’t his fellow-Democrats routinely note that the American people don’t care about pork? You gotta love these two-America types that make up the Democratic elite these days.

Moe Lane

PS: Not to depress our lurkers: but John Boozman’s on Foreign Affairs; Jeff Miller is both Armed Services and Veteran’s Affairs; and Jo Ann Emerson is chair of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security. Which is not to say that they probably aren’t going to be adverse to a little skiing, either – but at least they’re probably up to get some actual work done during this trip.

Well, maybe Bart Gordon can be in charge of the coffeepot.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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COMMENTS

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  • red4ever

    Corporations cannot hold expensive retreats and have private jets if they take public funds. But, Congress people can travel the world — and they ain’t doing Europe on $5 a day — with public funds.

  • janis

    I had heard about this trip, maybe from local talk radio. The angle they were taking was that trips such as this, even if legit, are only supposed to include expenses for the congressman themself, not to have the taxpayer foot the bill for the various wives as well. So when do we see them reimbursing us for this lovely junket?

    Yeah, I know, rhetorical question and all that….. On a side note, thanks for bringing Dave Evans to my attention. I’d like to vote for him.

  • Praying

    BTW, does anyone know a way to email Reps who are not YOUR rep? The senate system is much easier to use. I don’t mind that I have to give personal information, I just don’t like getting knocked out of the Reps form b/c I live in the wrong zip code!
    In the meantime, I’ll call or fax. They’re not my reps, but I’m going for a total purge of the house and senate.

  • FJG

    … This is the 2nd time in a month that the Democrats in Congress wated our money on frivilous and expensive personal trips (Retreat to Williamsburg) on the tax payer’s dime. I and my family are from TN. While I now live in VA, you better believe that both Tanner and Gordon will be hearing about this from ALL of us.

    Momma and I have been saying for a while that Rep. John Tanner needs to go! This is just further proof. Our family home is in his district and now that my Father is retired, he needs something to do in his spare time. I think talking Daddy into spearheading a campaign to have Tanner kicked out of office in 2010 just got bumped up to #1 on my to do list this weekend.

  • eucher

    After all, “they won” and isn’t this just exactly what the masses thought they’d be getting with Obama’s era of new, transparent politics?

  • Old_Crow

    During the Clinton administration we had to charge the fuel used to fly CODELs against our training budget. During the Bush and Reagan years they let us (accurately) charge the costs against logistics. Perhaps a minor point, but it did impact our training and made it harder to HQ to track costs associated with supporting these ops. For every plane flying the CODEL, there’s at least one backup, sometimes a chase plane flying in case the primary has maintenance problems.

    Some of these trips are certainly worthwhile but often the ‘primaries’ (Congressmen) don’t even participate in the briefings, just the social stuff and photo ops. I have run into motivated staffers (both parties) that are eager to listen and learn, but most of the information these days can be obtained via VTC or other means.

  • Adjoran

    - but only for the cost of a regular commercial fare. In the case of Congress, it’s not clear how this money is collected. I don’t think their accommodations are billed at all.

    This crap goes back 50 years to when members figured out they could take vacations on the public dime as long as they make at least one stop on “official business.”

    Of course, most of these Congress critters probably think they are covering themselves with the spousal travel:

    “Whaddya mean it was a ‘pleasure’ trip, dang it? Hellfahr, I took my WIFE with me! What kind of a ‘pleasure’ trip is THAT?”

  • spainishirish

    Gordon is one, and John Tanner and Lincoln Davis are the others. Has there been any recruitment efforts at all there to knock them off in 2010? If we start to target men like these, so out of touch with their districts and so used to easy elections, the House is doable.

  • TxCon

    of those big talking “Blue Dogs”. They are a disgrace to the true Blue Dogs of years past.

  • 1SGinTN

    Specifically, with regard to fiscal responsibility as stated front & center on the Blue Dog website. At least Heath Schuler’s votes on the Stimulus were congruent with his stated principles in that regard.

    Rep. Tanner is my Congressman as well. The Republican Party in recent elections to this seat have 1) fielded weak and amatuerish candidates, 2) been forced to repudiate and disavow one candidate running as Republican, and 3) failed to produce a candidate altogether. I have previously had little to really blast Tanner over; his office has been responsive in all my communications and queries, he has prior military service and generally TALKS conservative. I have been paying a little closer attention since November 2006, however, and find that he will VOTE party-line rather than stand on his purported conservative principles. My previous lukewarm support for him in the absence of a viable Republican candidiate has now turned to heated opposition in the aftermath of his vote for the Stimulus Bill.

  • janis

    I get the standard “Thank you for your concern regarding________…”
    On drilling last summer, I got the usual lib talking points. And since then, his office keeps sending me letters explaining his votes.

    Nothing excuses what they are doing to us. Like you, lukewarm interest has turned to “Where’s a candidate I can support?” For me, this Dave Evans guy looks interesting.

  • 1SGinTN

    Here’s one way to start:
    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38786569820

    http://www.tngop.org/

    BTW, here’s two bills introduced in the TN Assembly of note:
    http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HJR0104

    http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HJR0108

  • 1SGinTN

    I plan on getting more involved in the process. A meetup group in Montgomery County would be a start, although my piece of MC is a minority of the district.