Taxpayers footed bill for lawmaker’s hotel stay

When dozens of state senators trekked to Spokane last month for a rare round of Eastern Washington hearings, Republican leaders complained about the extra $30,000 to $35,000 cost to taxpayers.

“It’s a matter of, can we do this within our existing budget?” Sen. Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said at the time.

Although the state negotiated a discounted rate of $99 a night plus tax at the Davenport Hotel, Republicans were careful to point out that most of them were only staying a single night at the luxury hotel, with its custom-made beds, fine linens, frescoes and carvings. Half a dozen Republican senators chose not to attend at all.

But among those who got a room at the Davenport courtesy of taxpayers: Republican state Sen. Bob McCaslin, whose Spokane Valley home is just 13 miles away.

Other local senators, including Lisa Brown, Brad Benson and even Bob Morton, who lives 80 miles away, stayed at their own homes or made arrangements to stay with friends or family. Senate accounting records requested by The Spokesman-Review show that taxpayers, however, picked up the $130 bill for McCaslin’s room and valet parking.

“Even I can drive 13 miles,” said Democratic state Sen. Darlene Fairley, a paraplegic from Lake Forest Park, north of Seattle. None of the hearings, she said, were particularly early in the morning or hard to get to.

McCaslin, who turned 80 this year and had a hip replacement, said he was tired and staying downtown just made sense.

“Could I have driven home? Absolutely,” he said. “I just felt if they (other senators) were going to stay down there, we could talk through the evening.”

He ended up having dinner with a couple of lobbyists, he said.

“I wanted to stay downtown and just relax, so I did,” he said.

Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said he has no problem with that particular cost.

“You’ve got to look at the big picture,” he said. Democratic senators, he said, stayed a total of 42 room-nights; Republicans stayed 22.

“They doubled us on the room expenses,” he said. “If Bob wasn’t feeling good and wanted to stay downtown, more power to him. We saved the taxpayers a heck of a lot more than it cost for him to stay one night.”

McCaslin said he was never one of those who objected to the costs of holding the hearings in Spokane. Despite the added expense, he said, the hearings gave the Senate a needed chance to visit the region and hear about its needs.

“As conservative as I am, I think we should hold one here once in a while,” he said. “I’d like to take them out to East Sprague and show them all the empty buildings.”

As for the cost of the room and parking, he said, unlike many lawmakers, he’s long refused to go to out-of-state legislative gatherings on the state’s dime. That has saved the state thousands of dollars, he said.

“The press loves this,” he said. “They’re always picking up little things, while they’re missing millions at DSHS (the Department of Social and Health Services) or the Growth Management Act.”

A reporter’s call about the hotel stay came on the heels of a woman who called to upbraid McCaslin about the state’s new pick-a-party primary – which he had nothing to do with – and a man who was upset about gas prices.

“We get chewed out for a lot more things than just $99 at the hotel,” McCaslin said.