Have clout, will travel

S.J. CAHN

Monday night as I drove home from work, I heard an interesting report

on the radio about privately sponsored trips taken by House and

Senate members in the past four years.

The report, by American Radioworks and Marketplace in conjunction

with the Medill School of Journalism, came at the issue from an

understandable perspective: that these trips are a last available

perk for Congress, one the report concluded is poorly policed by

ethics and rules committees on Capitol Hill. It quoted former elected

officials -- mainly Democrats -- about how damaging junkets can be to

the political process, if they appear or end up being little more

than paid influence.

“It just leads to suspicion,” former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton,

who played a role on the 9/11 Commission, said on the program. “It

erodes confidence in the Congress, and that is a serious thing.”

Like most other issues in politics, to a degree it is easy to tell

when a trip made sense and when it failed to pass the smell test. The

report highlighted a trip taken by former Republican Rep. Tom Bliley

to England, aboard the Concorde, with his wife. They stayed at the

famous Savoy. They attended the Wimbledon finals.

The trip, the most expensive the report found, cost more than

$31,000. It was paid for by Brown & Williamson Tobacco. The stated

purpose was: “Tour/speak to senior management of British American

Tobacco; meet with CEO of British Trade International.”

Today, Bliley is a tobacco lobbyist.

American Radioworks and Marketplace have put their findings online

at https:// americanradioworks.public radio.org/features/congtravel/

#. I couldn’t help but wonder about the travel habits of

Newport-Mesa’s representatives.

I was, and here’s an easy way out, both surprised and not

surprised.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher turns out to rank No. 22 among 582 members

of the House and Senate, having taken almost $103,000 worth of trips

since 2000. Those 10 trips have totaled 63 days. One trip, for

$21,000, was the 12th most expensive. It was paid for by the

Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia and, not

surprisingly, was to Malaysia.

Rep. Chris Cox, always referred to as one of the House’s most

powerful members, took 11 trips, lasting 25 days, which totaled not

quite $8,900.

Why the disparity?

Well, the most obvious is that Rohrabacher is a senior member of

the International Relations Committee and serves as vice chairman of

the Asia and the Pacific subcommittee. That means lots of trips all

over the world, said his spokesman, Aaron Lewis.

“You won’t find Dana going to Wimbeldon,” Lewis said when told of

Bliley’s one fine trip.

Other major trips Rohrabacher has taken included ones to Qatar;

Taiwan, the Philippines and Kuwait; London and Qatar; Qatar and

Vienna; and Tokyo and Taiwan. Each cost more than $10,000 and were

paid for by groups that included the Government of Qatar, Taiwan

Assn. for Industry and Commerce, Philippines United Against Crime and

Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation.

Rohrabacher typically took his wife, Rhonda, with him.

“Like anyone, he’d prefer to have his spouse with him,” Lewis

said, noting that Rohrabacher’s job often has him away from his

family.

On the face, Rohrabacher’s trips don’t look like the more

egregious ones that include golf, spa treatments and fancy dinners.

The point of the report, though, is that these groups are paying for

extended and often exclusive time with members of Congress and that

that influence could be affecting votes and other government work.

Cox’s trips all appear to be of the “policy wonk” types. His most

expensive trips, two of them, were just more than $1,500. Familiar

sponsors are the Heritage Foundation, twice, and Congressional

Institute, four times. The worst one can say for Cox is that he

enjoys some pricey meals. During one three-day trip sponsored by the

Congressional Institute to a spot in Maryland, Cox wolfed down

$593.49 in food.

For those thinking this crusading piece takes any unfair shots at

Republicans, it does report that the Democratic Party enjoyed 54.4%

of the trip bounty through 2,735 trips costing more than $7.8

million. The Republicans took 2,090 trips at a cost of $6.5 million.

The Independent Party rounds out the country with 22 trips totaling

almost $54,000.

And even that’s not a bad take for four years.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He may be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.