Duty Calls Members Of Congress South Travel Paid For By Group Seeking Sympathetic Hearing

Dozens in Congress have found respite from the capital’s cold, snowy winter in Las Vegas, Honolulu, Israel and the Bahamas - compliments of special interests.

Despite a new law limiting gifts to lawmakers, fact-finding travel is still allowed although it must be reported more quickly. In most cases, the travel is paid for by organizations seeking a sympathetic hearing on Capitol Hill.

Since Jan. 1, nearly more than 150 such trips have been reported by members and staff of the House and Senate. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call totaled the combined value of all the trips at more than $118,000.

For freshman Rep. Jon Christensen, R-Neb., the destinations were speaking engagements in Las Vegas, Houston and Orlando, Fla. Total estimated value of the travel: $2,580.

“From a special interest point of view, it is very helpful to have a lawmaker come and speak before your group,” said Ellen Miller, director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. “It’s another way of gaining access, and therefore influence, over a lawmaker.”

A spokesman for Christensen, Chris Hull, said the congressman’s trips were for legislative business related to his work on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. In Orlando, “he was on the ground for about two hours,” Hull said. In Houston, Christensen was on a tax panel, and in Las Vegas, he met with electronics industry officials about their tax problems, the aide said.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., spoke at conferences of the National Newspaper Publishers Association in the Bahamas and at the African American Association of Hawaii in Honolulu. The two trips cost an estimated $2,760.

Dentists in three Southern states invited freshman Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., himself a dentist, to speak to their meetings. Norwood traveled to Orlando Jan. 12-14, to Nashville Jan. 19, and to Dallas Jan. 26-28, at a total cost of just over $2,000.

Rep. George Miller, senior Democrat on the House Resources Committee, went to Phoenix Jan. 14 to speak to the National Indian Gaming Association and to tour two tribal casinos. Expenses for Miller and an aide totaled $1,411. Miller’s panel has jurisdiction over regulation of Indian gambling.

And Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, took his wife Janet along on a Feb. 2-4 trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., to address the National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. Reimbursement for the trip ran $2,100.

The Senate’s No. 2 GOP leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi, headed for colder climates. He and his wife spent Feb. 2-6 in Aspen, Colo., where he spoke to a meeting sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. The cost was $3,257, but, heeding the new gift restrictions, they picked up their own tab for skiing.

By far the most popular destination was Israel, where 28 House and Senate staff members traveled last month - including aides to a large chunk of the New York delegation. The trips, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Israel Education Foundation, Project Interchange and the Arab American Institute, cost from $2,200 to $2,900 per person.

Pro-Israel groups routinely pay to send lawmakers and their aides for tours and briefings in the country.