House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is in scalding water for jetting off on some controversial overseas trips that may have been, oops, paid for by lobbyists. That’s a definite congressional no-no.
But privately funded trips aren’t off limits, and over the past five years our congressmen and women have taken 5,410 trips valued at more than $16 million, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.
Colorado’s delegation, however, isn’t exactly made up of DeLay-like jet-setters.
Since 2000, former Rep. Scott McInnis has taken the most trips (15) and freshman Sen. Ken Salazar and former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell the least (one each). The top five lawmakers nationally took more than 50 trips each.
McInnis accepted $54,353 in trips, the most of the delegation. He was followed by Rep. Tom Tancredo ($39,854) and Rep. Diana DeGette ($30,778.) McInnis was the only Colorado lawmaker to crack the top 100 in total expenses, coming it at No. 86.
About 55 percent of the $16 million was financed by tax-exempt groups or other organizations that receive money from donors, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which reviewed records from the clerk of the House of Representatives and the secretary of the Senate. Those donors aren’t disclosed on travel reports, and many of the groups aren’t required by law to disclose their names.
So, it’s not always clear who’s picking up your congressman’s tab. And since lobbyists can serve on some of these non-profit boards, they sometimes accompany lawmakers on trips. That’s partly why DeLay is under fire.
All politics are local
The headline on the Colorado Municipal League’s latest legislative roundup reads: “05 session winding down, local control still attacked.” Yet the nine-page missive contains no information on Senate Bill 207, the anti-smoking ordinance that tramples all over local control.
Lawmakers who oppose the ban have been elbowing CML associate director Sam Mamet, wanting to know why the league isn’t carrying the local control flag on this burning issue.
Officially, he says, the league is staying neutral.
“Communities like Denver, and its mayor, feel strongly about a statewide ban, and other communities are concerned about the effect of this sort of thing on their locally imposed bans that might be different from the statewide ban,” Mamet said. “As a result we decided it was best to stay out of fray.”
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper opposed a citywide ban when he ran for office two years ago as a restaurant owner, saying it would be unfair to restaurant owners to ban smoking if neighboring communities allowed it. He supports a statewide ban.
The CML has a 19-member board that helps set policy, but the concerns of the Denver mayor aren’t easily dismissed.
Mamet says he can take the razzing from lawmakers. “Consistency,” he said, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, “is the hobgoblin of small minds.”
While CML is on the sidelines, the Colorado Restaurant Association, once one of the bill’s chief proponents, has abandoned the bill as it’s now written. It originally banned smoking in most public places, including restaurants, bars, casinos, bowling alleys and other indoor areas. But it was so mucked up in the Senate, it now applies to only some, but not all, restaurants and nobody else.
Interestingly enough, about 70 percent of Colorado’s restaurants already are smoke-free. The bill will be heard in a House committee today.
The money trail
Colorado Commission on Higher Education chief Rick O’Donnell was on target to pocket more cash last month for his expected congressional campaign than he collected during his entire 2002 primary run for the same 7th Congressional District seat. For that race, he took in $155,000, including $60,000 of his own money.
O’Donnell already has lined up the support of GOP heavyweights Bruce Benson and former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong, which could help stave off Republican competitors. State Treasurer Mike Coffman is interested, but hasn’t jumped in.
Dan Haley (dhaley@denverpost.com) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
