Internal E-Mails Reveal Sharp Criticism, Hidden Costs of Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Trip

WASHINGTON — Even as new ethics rules curtail trips financed by private interests, a long tradition of traveling abroad at taxpayers' expense survives.

And while these "fact-finding" missions sometimes take lawmakers to hot spots such as Iraq and the Middle East, where they are clearly dealing with crucial policy issues, other excursions to more pleasant climes are occasionally labeled as, well, junketeering.

Perhaps few have raised sharper debate behind the scenes than an unusually large House delegation — 34 travelers plus an Air Force Boeing 737 and its crew of seven — that journeyed to some of the most desirable tourist destinations in the Western Hemisphere in February of 2005.

After a two-year effort through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. State Department recently released to Cox News Service e-mail exchanges among department officials, military officials and congressional aides that provide a window into the disputes as well as the hidden costs involved in such a trip.

In the thick stack of e-mails, one State Department official refers to the delegation as a "monster" and another blasted it as the most "egregious" boondoggle witnessed in her 27-year diplomatic career.

Led by former Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican who has since lost his seat, the trip caused a stir in its planning stages when "The Hill," a newspaper widely read on Capitol Hill, reported that it would include the Galapagos Islands. That destination was quietly dropped.

The final 11-day itinerary took the group to the Panama Canal, to Buenos Aires for touring and a tango show as well as brief official meetings at their hotel, then to the southernmost tip of the continent for a boat outing to see the famed penguins of Tierra del Fuego, then to the water falls of Iguacu in Brazil and a foray into the Amazon jungle.

En route home, most of the delegation stopped at the beach resort of Tobago for four nights — one extra to avoid a snowstorm in Washington.

The stated purpose of the congressional delegation — dubbed a CODEL in Capitol Hill speak — was to focus on "resource-based issues such as biodiversity, wildlife conservation programs, park lands, energy issues, timber and forestry management, world heritage sites, mining, multiple land use, and implementation of U.S. assistance programs overseas, particularly those of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service."

The delegation included Pombo and four other House Republicans plus seven House Democrats, eight congressional spouses, seven staff members, a physician and six military escorts.

In the group were Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican who is now running for president, and his wife, Jackie. Tancredo said through his spokesman that his chief memory of the trip was that he found it "frustrating to be constantly flying."

Others included Republican Reps. Dennis Rehberg of Montana, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Devin Nunes of California, and Democratic Reps. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, Grace Napolitano and Dennis Cardoza of California, Jay Inslee of Washington state, and congressional delegates Donna Christensen of the Virgin Islands and Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, both Democrats.

Pombo, who now works for Pac/West Communications, a lobbying and public relations firm, did not respond to messages seeking comment on the trip. Other participants who were contacted, including Flake and Hinojosa, declined to comment on the trip.

The far-flung travels brought a far harsher judgment from one of the State Department officials involved in the planning.

"In my 27 years with the Department (of State) I've seen some codels that are boondoggles, but this one is really egregious," Dianne Graham, information officer at the U.S. embassy at Buenos Aires, e-mailed her colleagues. The itinerary all but guaranteed that "no work" would be done, she said.

Some congressional trips have been "laudatory," Graham continued. "But, I also remember a couple of proposed codels back in the 90s that (the State Department liaison to Congress) actually killed because they were clearly not for working purposes.

"Aren't we supposed to fight against Waste, Fraud and Mismanagement?"

The undiplomatic comment drew nervous responses from other State Department officials, some of whom sympathized with her concerns but argued that congressional travel is a matter for congressional reform. "Until that happens venting is fine but we still have to assist," e-mailed one official.

Barbara J. Fleck, as legislative management officer for the State Department's congressional office, had herself dubbed the delegation a "monster CODEL" because of its size. But she cautioned her planning team that it was "Congress' Constitutional prerogative" to decide where and when to travel.

She defended Pombo's itinerary as in keeping with his committee's jurisdiction over wildlife, conservation programs, park lands and energy and power.

Fleck later warned her team, "(D)on't write anything you wouldn't want to see printed on the front page of The Washington Post."

But after the delegation canceled a stop in Venezuela out of security concerns amid news of heightened tension with the United States just days before the trip, Fleck ignored her own advice.

"Let me know if someone wants to send a heat-seeking missile to this group," she e-mailed her colleagues.

The total cost for such travel is never disclosed by Congress. Lawmakers report only the per diem reimbursements they receive for room and meals, which in the case of the Pombo CODEL amounted to about $3,000 each.

However, the e-mail exchanges among the trip planners provide details that point to a total cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among those expenses:

—The Boeing 737, part of a specially outfitted VIP fleet operated out of Andrews Air Force base, costs an estimated $10,000 per flying hour to operate. With 32 flying hours on the itinerary, that totals $320,000, not counting the ground expenses of keeping the plane for 11 days.

—Hotels and meals for all of the officials and traveling staff based on per diem rates would be just over $100,000.

—At each destination, embassy personnel are required to travel ahead and set up a hotel suite or conference room, complete with telephones, computers and fax machines, usually with round-the-clock staffing that costs in the tens of thousands of dollars.

—Tour guides, park fees, translators and boat rentals were needed at many of the stops.

—Vans and rental cars as well as drivers were also required. In remote Manaus, in the Amazon jungle of Brazil, the prescribed motorcade included two vans for lawmakers and their spouses, one van for staff members and one for the military escort, plus a "principal" sedan for Pombo and his wife, Annette, and a luggage truck and chase car.

Allyson Groff, spokeswoman for the Democratic majority that now controls the House Committee on Natural Resources (the new name for the old Pombo committee), said, "The Democrats on the committee had nothing to do with the planning of this trip."

She said the committee has had no CODELs in the current Congress and "has no plans to do so in the immediate future."