In the wake of reports his opponent took an expenses-paid trip to Panama while heading a state agency, Democratic congressional candidate Ed Perlmutter on Thursday called on Republican Rick O’Donnell to release all of his travel records.
“It is ironic that Rick O’Donnell has stated over and over again that public office should never be used for private gain when the truth is he didn’t hesitate to accept all- expense-paid trips for him and others that were the result of Colorado taxpayers,” Perlmutter said.
O’Donnell’s campaign said it does not have records of his travel while serving in Gov. Bill Owens’ administration. And the state keeps no records of third- party-funded travel.
O’Donnell, the former head of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs, policy director for Gov. Bill Owens and the head of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, said he took only a handful of third-party-funded trips while working for the state, including a trip to Ireland to talk about education reform.
“It was not a pleasure trip,” O’Donnell said. “It was not fun. I didn’t even check luggage.”
O’Donnell said he also went to the Silicon Valley as part of an economic development mission at the request of the governor. He said he also took “maybe two to three” third-party trips as a member of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education.
While Perlmutter blasted his opponent as a hypocrite, O’Donnell said Perlmutter was “grandstanding.”
“They’ve thrown everything they’ve got at me,” O’Donnell said. “They’ve hit me on Bush, on stem cell. He’s hit me with everything he’s got, and he hasn’t won this thing.”
O’Donnell also continued his attacks on the lobbying work Perlmutter’s wife does in Washington.
The already bitter campaign turned nastier a day after the disclosure that O’Donnell accepted an expenses-paid trip to Panama with his girlfriend that was arranged by a TV station doing business with the state agency O’Donnell headed.
KCNC-Channel 4 gave him the trip, paid for by the CBS network, after the commission purchased television ads encouraging Latinos to attend college. O’Donnell took the trip three weeks before resigning from the agency to campaign full-time.
His girlfriend, Carrie Besnette, who on Wednesday was appointed to the commission by Owens, went on the trip.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
