Editorial: Conference an unfit use of taxpayer dollars

Would it make sense for a boss to send a worker on the verge of retirement to an out-of-town seminar? No, it would be an obvious waste of money, but it wouldn’t be the public’s business.

But if government did that and taxpayers paid for it, then the boss has some explaining to do.

Five Republican legislators attended the American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Salt Lake City last week. Three of them paid their own way or got scholarships to pay for it. Taxpayers paid for the other two, Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol. Barbieri is a first-term legislator who is seeking re-election. Hart was sidelined by the voters in the May primary.

House Speaker Lawerence Denney makes the decisions about covering conference bills, but he told the Idaho Statesman, “I don’t really look at whether they’re retired or not.”

He should.

If a conference provides an educational experience that would help legislators become more effective, it would stand to reason that they be around. Hart won’t be. Voters wisely sent him packing after his quixotic attempts to avoid paying taxes. While this lame duck is officially in office, he won’t be the next time the Legislature convenes.

Besides, it’s insulting to shell out tax dollars to someone who so shamelessly ducks his tax bills. The Internal Revenue Service has been garnishing Hart’s legislative salary for the past seven years. He owes the state more than $50,000. So he earns a trip to Salt Lake City?

Then there is the matter of taxpayers subsidizing trips to partisan conferences. ALEC is a controversial organization that writes model legislation for conservative lawmakers to introduce in their home states. Along with the National Rifle Association, it was heavily involved in the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense laws implemented in several states, most notably Florida. It is the brains behind many pro-business, anti-regulation laws that have been adopted across the nation.

Idaho House chief fiscal officer Terri Franks-Smith told The Spokesman-Review that it’s not unusual for House members to attend the annual ALEC conference at state expense. If lawmakers want to study up on ALEC-backed bills passed in other states, that’s their business. But taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize attendance at political events, whether they’re staged by ALEC or any other interest group.

Would the state pay for a Democrat to attend a Sierra Club event?

It’s not a matter of agreeing with the goals of the conference sponsors, it’s respecting the fact that some taxpayers don’t.

So, like the three lawmakers who paid their way this year, Barbieri should have, too. He said without government assistance, he wouldn’t have been able to attend.

Tough. It’s not state business.