After the legislature adjourned last May, the state spent $6,100 to send four term-limited lawmakers to summer conferences in New Orleans, Alaska and Washington, D.C., travel records show.
Taxpayer advocates question the wisdom of sending retiring lawmakers across the country on the state dime, even though the trips comply with ethics laws.
The Democratic lawmakers — former Reps. Cheri Jahn, Debbie Stafford and Alice Madden and former Sen. Bob Hagedorn — say the state benefited from their trips even though they didn’t return to legislative chambers to put their lessons into practice.
The travel plans were given the green light in February 2008, long before state officials began grappling with a projected $1 billion shortfall this year and next. And the four remained lawmakers until their replacements were sworn in this year, said former Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon.
“Your constituents keep calling you even when you’re out of office,” said Gordon, who approved Hagedorn’s trip. “Even though (the senator) was term-limited, he was still a representative for people in Colorado. I rarely declined travel requests if we were within our budget.”
Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who had a reputation for frugality in his chamber, approved the other three. He did not return a call seeking comment.
Each chamber gets $50,000 a year to pay for out-of-state travel expenses including airfare, ground transport, hotel, meals and conference registration.
Faced with a budget crunch this year, both chambers have frozen those funds.
But in 2008, the state spent $31,000 to send 22 lawmakers — all but one were Democrats — to three conferences, records show.
Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he forgoes conferences because he already spends four months away from home each year.
As for the scarce numbers of traveling Republicans, a gift ban passed by voters in 2006 “has quashed a lot of that,” Penry said. “It’s made it unclear whether we can (attend) or clear that we can’t, depending on the organization.”
Some lawmakers paid their own way. Senate President Peter Groff, for instance, paid for travel and lodging in Alaska, though the state paid his conference registration. Some House lawmakers paid part of their expenses because Romanoff capped reimbursements.
The legislative conferences aim to educate politicians on policy trends, allow them to share ideas and give practical pointers on everything from communicating with constituents to dealing with the media.
But their agendas aren’t all business. Last summer’s conferences featured a glacier cruise, parties with famed musicians and other purely social events.
Ruth Prendergast, a former Republican state representative from Denver, is wary of conferences, even for sitting lawmakers.
“Some of these trips are very beneficial, but a lot of it’s play,” said Prendergast, who now sits on the board of a conservative watchdog group called the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. As for term-limited politicians? “It’s a joke. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Former Reps. Jahn and Stafford both trekked to Anchorage, Alaska, in July for a five-day meeting of the Council of State Governments- West.
Jahn sits on the group’s executive committee and said she played a key role in keeping Colorado lawmakers in prominent positions within the group.
“We put the whole new (CSG-West leadership) board together. If Colorado doesn’t have a voice on that, we really miss out,” Jahn said. “If you’re not representing your state, you get rolled right over.”
And the glacier cruise and accompanying wildlife tour? It prompted plenty of talks about global warming, she said.
Stafford could not be reached for comment but justified her trip on a travel request.
She wanted to attend “to continue to work on child welfare and prison reform,” she wrote.
A review of scheduled seminars showed no sessions on either of those topics.
Former Sen. Hagedorn attended conferences over the summer in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans.
Both focused on his twin passions of health care and technology, and he’s notorious for sharing policy information with his former fellow senators, he said.
“It did get to be something of a joke with my colleagues. ‘Oh, there’s more crap from Hagedorn in my box. He obviously went to another conference,’ ” Hagedorn said.
Hagedorn largely eschewed parties such as those featuring New Orleans jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, he said.
Former House Majority Leader Madden also attended the New Orleans conference, where she spoke on panels about energy and climate change, she said.
Those experiences still will be put to use though she’s no longer a legislator, said Madden, who was recently appointed as the governor’s climate- change coordinator.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
