Monday, December 17, 2012

Burton Lives It Up During Last Year In Office

Proving once again that nothing good comes from long-term service in Washington, U.S. Rep. Dan Burton spent lavishly on travel around the world during his final year in Congress, sometimes charging taxpayers and often accompanied by his wife. According to the Star's Maureen Groppe, Burton took more taxpayer-funded and privately-funded trips during his last year in office than all but four other members of Congress. Burton was also spending large sums of money out of leftover campaign funds on what were obviously personal trips, visiting such places as the Ritz Carlton in New York City and the Miami Shores Country Club despite a federal ban on using campaign funds for personal use.

As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Burton visited fourteen countries, twice as many trips as the chairman of that committee took. According to Legistorm, Burton traveled on privately-funded trips to Taiwan, Bahrain and Quatar at a cost of $32,978, the fifth highest for privately-funded trips in Congress. Four official trips were taken by Burton to the countries of France, Slovac Republic, Hungary,Taiwan, South Korea, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Spain, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia according to the report.

1 comment:

patriot paul said...

They make their own rules, invent their own loopholes, skirt whenever they can and justify their abuse by the lamest of excuses by having a hearing (maybe). Sort of reminds me of justifying a business dinner by saying 'how's your business doing'? "Just fine, thank you, let's order some Dom Perignom and hit the clubs."