Posted on 04/16/2007 3:02:11 AM PDT by cowtowney
Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay resort.
In a separate trip to the Caribbean last week, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York squired his wife and four Democratic members to Grenada and Trinidad.
All told, the military flew at least 13 congressional delegations to various destinations during the Easter recess -- at an estimated rate of $10,000 or more per flying hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
http://benniethompson.house.gov/HoR/MS02/About+Bennie/
It's nice to see that the Dems are so concerned about the War on Terror that they want to fight it all the way to the Caribbean; a known terrorist hot spot.
Scoffing probably because he wasn't invited.
Okay, that was unfair. I'll just over to the RNC site and see what Chairman Mel and the boys have to say about this...Apparently they have nothing to say on two counts because (1) there is nothing about the increase in junkets, and (2) what they do have there are references to critical articles about the RATS instead of actually saying anything themselves about the RATS. So even if they did have something on the RNC site about the junkets, it wouldn't the RNC saying it. By contrast, after donning the hazmat suit I have just for these occasions, I dropped over to the DNC site and there the RATS have the stones to say nasty things about the Stupid Party in their own words not someone else's.
Perp List
http://benniethompson.house.gov/HoR/MS02/About+Bennie/
They don’t list the other nine democrats
The token Repubs were:
http://lungren.house.gov/bio.shtml
http://www.house.gov/mike-rogers/
It would be nice to find out who the other dems were
2nd Junket (..er fact finding mission)
http://engel.house.gov/
http://clarke.house.gov/
http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/
http://lee.house.gov/
http://www.house.gov/waters/
http://www.house.gov/gwenmoore/
No token Repubs
When they begin the debate on the carbon taxes, the blogs can make these plane trips an issue.
My very limited experience of official travel is that you are booked solid by the organizers and are pretty much run into the ground. Sure, trips can be abused by those minded to do so. The answer to that is to publish the itinerary and, if the press wants to sniff about it, invite a reporter along to make sure Members don't play hookey. Most reporters, however, don't want to work that hard; wouldn't find the subject of the meetings sexy enough to write about; and can't be bothered to seriously research their stories anyhow.
I frankly also don't care if private parties pay for the travel as long as everything is disclosed. We've recently gone through another of Congress' hissy fits of reform in response to the Jack Abrahmoff scandel and have severely limited if not eliminated this. Too bad -- it just puts Members deeper in the bubble.
The press should be shot for the way it reports this kind of thing. The National Widget Manufacturers hold their annual convention. They put it in a resort destination because that's the only way they can get attendance. They get one of the Honorables to come out to talk to their legislative affairs/political action group and maybe the Board. If you are a meeting planner trying to develop a useful, entertaining, attendance-enhancing agenda, this is a natural.
So a Member, who is probably scheduled 24/7 and working a 70+ hour week, agrees to go to the airport, fly coach across the country, overnight in a convention hotel, give a couple of talks, and fly back. Maybe he has time to play a round of golf. I hope so; he used to be able to take an honorarium for his time, but now golf and a campaign contribution is about the best he can hope to get out of it.
So how does the press report the trip? Ooooh ... the congressman got an airplane ride. Ooooh ... the congressman got to stay in a hotel and eat in a restaurant. You would think the average reporter has never been on an airplane. They certainly write the stories for the kind of people who still think the road warrior stuff is glamorous, which is an illusion held mainly by people who have never done it. The American press today: the dishonest writing for the naive.
“I think most congresscritters don’t travel enough. “
True
“The real scandal is that most Members live in a bubble in Washington and then go home to campaign every weekend.”
Perhaps we should make a rule that they can only go to places with 5 start hotels 25% of the time.
Well anyone who really thought that a Democrat controlled congress would really be any different that the Republican controlled ones was dilusional to begin with.
1. they dont need to fly on our dime for a personal family vacation.
2. stopping in Honduras on the way to tropical island resorts is not “spending time on the ground”.
I agree they need to get out of Washington, but out amid the people they represent not a junket just to get a free vacation.
“They are going from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. everyday”
What Homeland Security issue do you think was solved/investigated in Caneel Bay at $1100/night each?
I dont see any politicians losing weight from overwork, Their staffs do most of the hard work and tell them how to vote. Do you include the parties in the long hours you say they work? You seem to be greatly enamored with the hard work the politicians do, Yes its hard work sitting on the dais and having your butt kissed everywhere you go. I do feel for them having to eat all those chicken and roast beef dinners and having to listen to all the crap that goes woth them, but being driven around ,or flown around all over the country at someone elses expense isnt all bad either.
According to you its a rough job,but they sure spend a lot of money to get it,and they arent poor men either.
Just about everyone of these pukes leaves Congress much wealthier than when they arrived.
If you've ever had a conversation with Gwen Moore, you know just how funny this statement is.
My only problem with these junkets is that they are round trip versus one way tickets!
I couldn’t agree MORE.
I believe it was Mark Twain who correctly opined that “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
And Walter Williams updated that sentiment when he declared that “We should pay these people a million dollars a year to STAY HOME. At $535 million, it would be a BARGAIN!”
I honestly think the planners who sited the Capitol where they did were on to something as the place was a reclaimed mosquito infested SWAMP and virtually uninhabitable during the 6 months from late spring through early fall.
Then that *%$#%* guy Carrier and others invented AIR CONDITIONING!
St. John, by the way, has a resident population of about 4,000. So I guess the Congresscritters could actually have inspected each and every resident to see if they were terrorist without too much trouble. Of course, they’d have to stay a few extra days.
Caneel Bay Resort on St. John Island has always been one of the most exclusive resorts in the Carribbean. Need I say exclusive=expensive.
Rooms start at $375 per day and those aren’t the best as you can imagine, so I’m sure our hard-working Congressmen, their wives, and aides had nothing but the best suites.
Price? If you have to ask, you don’t work for Uncle Sugar.
I hope someone can find out the nine other demoncrats that went to Caneel Bay.
I’m quite sure the MSM will be all over this story trying to find out who the attendees were and why they were there.
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