From Deseret News archives:

Hatch, Bennett frequent fliers

Their travel costs rank in the top 150 of 582 in Congress

Published: Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 10:33 a.m. MDT
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The Democratic Leadership Council sent him and his wife to Key Largo, Fla., for a four-day "spring retreat" in May 2001. Cost: $2,833.62.

And the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress sent him and his wife to Berlin and Heidelberg for six days in April 2003 at a cost of $3,564.40. They attended the "20th Annual Congress - Bundestag Seminar."

Bishop and his wife went on the same German trip, costing the association $3,646.40. It was the only privately funded trip Bishop, elected two years ago, has taken.

Cannon, in office since 1997, has also only taken one trip the past three years: The Western Watch Foundation sent him to Las Vegas for two days in June 2002 at a cost of $2,683.72. It was a public lands conference, the report said.

Hatch, in the U.S. Senate since 1977 and who doesn't face re-election until 2006, has taken more trips than anyone in the Utah delegation the past several years, although Hatch's are usually shorter trips and so don't cost as much as Bennett's travel.

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Hatch has taken 34 trips at a total cost of $32,610.77, the NPR report says. That ranks him 146 out of 582 legislators considered. Several of Hatch's trips were taken just as the personal finance/travel report each congressman must file came due, and he had not yet listed the cost of those trips.

The most expensive trip was paid for by Huntsman Chemical Corp., the family business of current Utah governor GOP candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. The firm paid $4,031 to fly Hatch and his wife to Houston to speak to Huntsman executives for three days in January of this year.

The Utah Jazz paid $693 to fly Hatch to Evansville, Ill., to attend the funeral of Bobbye Sloan, late wife of Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

Hatch's private travel is peppered with trips paid for by the nutritional supplement industry (Hatch is a longtime defender of deregulation of vitamins) and the music/recording industry. (Hatch is a published songwriter.)

A complete list of all U.S. congressmen's travel can be found at americanradioworks.publicradio.org.


E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com

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