Posted 12:44 PM by steve

To me, the scandal is not whether DeLay or Pelosi broke some rule regarding who gets to and who doesn't get to pay for their trips, but rather the fact that they're taking trips paid by others in the first place. All the focus on whether this or that group was ineligible to pay for DeLay's trip only obscures the fact that there are an awful lot of groups that can pay for our elected officials to go globe-trotting. If a Senator's or Representative's official duties call for them to go somewhere in the world (which I'd argue is probably never the case), then let them make the case that the US government ought to be paying for the trip. If they're not comfortable doing that, then that is most definitely a trip that they should not be taking.

I don't allow my employees to take trips paid for by the people with whom we do business (and people who don't do business with us don't offer to pay for trips). If it's necessary for a staffer to go somewhere, then I pay the costs. To allow otherwise introduces the possibility of favortism and corruption into the mix - something I don't need at work and certainly something we don't need in Washington...

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