State's members of Congress rack up frequent flier miles

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/29/5 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

[SmithL]

The Memorial Day weekend is here, the traditional kick-off of the summer travel season -- but for members of Congress, hitting the resorts and great cities of the world has become a year-round affair.

Nowhere has the issue been highlighted more than the case of House Republican leader Tom DeLay, whose lobbyist-paid junkets overseas have put him front and center in a congressional ethics investigation. But far from the glare of the cameras and controversy, California's 54-member congressional delegation is doing its own share of flying on somebody else's dime.

Democratic Rep. George Miller of Martinez, for instance, ranks among the Top 10 jet-setters in the state delegation -- having racked up 29 privately paid trips from January 2000 to June 2004 at a cost of more than $119,000, according to a recent independent survey.

Two other Bay Area Democrats, Reps. Tom Lantos of Hillsborough and Barbara Lee of Oakland, also made the state's Top 10: Lantos reporting 22 trips at a cost of $79,000, and Lee's 29 trips totaling $65,000.

[SmithL]

It's the same in the Senate, too. Just check the miles on Boxer's broom.

[socialismisinsidious]

"In all, they found that corporations, universities and other outside interests had spent more than $14 million in the past five years to send House and Senate members on more than 5,000 trips around the globe."

anyone who thinks that the legislators work for the people are sorely misinformed...they represent lobbyists and special interest. period.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

Anyone who thinks this sort of thing only started recently is seriously misinformed.