Lawmakers, aides disclose their special interest travel

WASHINGTON – Scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special interest trips by House members and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second-ranking Democrat, an Associated Press review has found.

At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government.

The review of thousands of pages of records covered pre-2005 travel disclosed since early March. That’s when news stories began scrutinizing DeLay’s travel, prompting lawmakers to comb through their files to make sure they had disclosed their travel.

While most of the undisclosed trips occurred in 2004, some date back to the late 1990s. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer recently disclosed 12 trips, the oldest dating back to 1997.

Hoyer’s undisclosed trips were nearly doubled by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., with 21. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., reported 20 trips and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. reported 13.

Republican and Democratic House members were nearly equal rules violators in failing to disclose personal trips within 30 days after each trip’s completion. There were 23 GOP members, 19 Democrats and one independent, all months or years late in their reporting to the House public records office.

Staff members for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., disclosed 11 trips while staff members for DeLay, R-Texas, had four. Rep. John Linder of Georgia, a former chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, belatedly filed nine trips, as did Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

The volume surprised the former chair of the House ethics committee, Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo.

Special interest trips usually are financed by corporations, trade groups, think tanks, universities and others. They often pay for first-class seats or provide corporate jets.

Many trips combine speeches, seminars and fact-finding tours with golf, sightseeing, shopping and accommodations at first-class hotels – often in foreign countries. Some lawmakers and staff members wrote apologetic letters to the House ethics committee.

Destinations in the disclosures included Amelia Island, Fla.; New York City; San Juan; San Francisco; San Diego; Miami; and Las Vegas. Foreign sites included Cuba, Taiwan and Israel.

Among the most expensive trips: Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and his wife visited Australia last November, listing a combined airfare of $24,804 paid by the American Australian Association.

The group says it aims to strengthen relations with the United States.