From left: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ander Crenshaw, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ginny Brown-Waite and Cliff Stearns [Illustrations: Rob Zammarchi]

In 2007, after a scandal involving Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff revealed how lobbyists were using lavish trips to curry favor and buy face time with lawmakers, Congress enacted stricter rules governing privately funded travel.

Until that point, lawmakers could accept free trips as long as the trip was related to the lawmakers’ “official” duties and wasn’t being paid for by a registered lobbyist or an individual representing a foreign country. But the golf junkets to Scotland that Abramoff secretly organized for several lawmakers, including former Florida Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Oviedo), reflected how easily the system could be abused. Abramoff, who has admitted that he used the trips to try to get lawmakers to do things for his clients, had his underlings help the congressmen and staffers who took the trips fill out their disclosure forms to conceal the actual cost of the trips and who had paid for them.

Today, such trips require more disclosure. The House or Senate Ethics Committee must approve each trip and will only sign off on a trip if the travel conforms to congressional rules and is substantially connected to a member’s official duties in Congress. Trips that include “excessive amounts of unscheduled time for opportunities for recreational activities during the official itinerary” are out of bounds. Organizations that employ registered lobbyists may not sponsor trips exceeding two days, and a group’s lobbyists may not accompany a lawmaker or congressional staffer on the trip. Lawmakers must also file post-trip reports within 15 days of their return from a privately funded trip.

The increased scrutiny of privately funded trips and the resulting crackdown appear to have dampened some lawmakers’ appetites for jet-setting, according to records posted on LegiStorm, a Washington, D.C., organization that tracks congressional travel, as well as congressional salaries, financial disclosures and earmarks. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Delray Beach), who took $174,004 worth of privately funded trips between 2000 and 2005, has not taken a single junket since July 2005 [“Top Traveler,” page 52].

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Miami), who is currently running for U.S. Senate, also has curbed his privately funded travel. The 43-year-old Democrat has accepted more than $86,796 worth of free trips during his seven-year congressional career to, among others, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis; Jerusalem; Delhi, India; and Doha, Qatar. Since November 2005, however, Meek hasn’t been on a private junket.

Even with the new constraints, Florida lawmakers have gotten approval for 72 trips valued at $153,140 over the past 23 months — although the trips tend to be less lavish than those under the previous rules.

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville), for instance, took three trips last year, none of which could be categorized as extravagant. Trade Press Publishing, which publishes Progressive Railroading Magazine, paid for her one-day trip to a conference New York, where she gave an update on upcoming regulations for the rail industry. Her two other trips included a one-day visit to Orlando, where she gave the welcoming remarks at the 37th Quadrennial Convention of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and a three-night trip to Tunica, Miss., where she attended the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute’s annual policy conference.

Despite Congress’ overhaul, some loopholes remain. While lobbying groups are banned from financing lawmakers’ trips, their non-profit arms continue to do so. Although the pro-Israel lobbying organization AIPAC is prohibited from paying for lawmakers’ trips abroad, its affiliated non-profit, the American Israel Education Foundation, can, and does, pay for dozens of trips to Israel each year.

Next page: Some of the other locations Florida lawmakers have visited from 2000 to 2009.

Here’s a sampling of some of the other locations Florida lawmakers have visited from 2000 to 2009, compliments of special interest groups.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami) and her husband, Dexter, traveled to Tel Aviv in August, with the Doheny Global Group, an energy development firm, picking up the tab. “The purpose of the trip is to understand the impact of the political economic factors on the economy of Mideast and Europe. Doheny develops real estate and renewable energy in this region and must gain deep understanding of all factors affecting stability of region, economy, politics,” Irwin Katsof, a partner with the Doheny Group, stated in a travel certification form filed with the House Ethics Committee. Ros-Lehtinen is the highest-ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Trip Cost: $13,600

Sponsor: Doheny Global Group

Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Jacksonville) and his wife, Katharine, traveled to Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2007 to attend a conference on political Islam.

Trip Cost: $6,469

Sponsor: Aspen Institute

Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Miami) and his wife, Cristina, traveled to Casablanca, Morocco, in 2003 to meet with officials of the U.S.-Morocco Council on Trade and Investment and government officials.

Trip Cost: $9,716

Sponsor: U.S.-Morocco Council on Trade and Investment

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Brooksville) and her late husband, Harvey, took a six-day trip to Berlin in 2007 to attend a conference on Europe and Russia.

Trip Cost: $8,766

Sponsor: Aspen Institute

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Ocala) took a seven-day trip to Paris and Stuttgart, Germany, in 2005 to learn about trade issues.

Trip Cost: $5,363

Sponsor: International Management and Development Institute

During the August congressional recess, freshman Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Tequesta) and his wife, Tara, took a one-week trip to Israel courtesy of the American Israel Education Foundation. The non-profit group, which is affiliated with AIPAC, the Washington-based pro-Israel lobby, provides educational programming about the U.S.-Israel relationship and has spent more than $3.9 million sending at least 541 lawmakers and staffers to Israel since 2000. An itinerary for Rooney’s trip shows 12-hour days packed with sightseeing and meetings with high-ranking Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. It included visits to Jerusalem, Israel’s border with Lebanon, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, a kibbutz on the northern border, historical sites around the Sea of Galilee, as well as a tour of the Masada archaeological site and the Dead Sea. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-New Smyrna Beach) also traveled to Tel Aviv during the second week of August on a $10,075 trip sponsored by the AIEF.

Trip Cost: $14,948

Sponsor: American Israel Education Foundation

Top Traveler

?

[Illustrations: Rob Zammarchi]

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Delray Beach) has racked up the largest privately funded travel tab of any Florida member over the past decade. While his last reported trip was in 2005, the $174,004 worth of trips he’s taken included a $5,914 “fact-finding” mission to China in 2005 paid for by the CASI Foundation for Children and China Contact Friendly Association; a $7,250 trip to Warsaw, Poland, in 2005 that was sponsored by the Museum of History of the Polish Jews; and a $6,461 educational seminar in Amman, Jordan, and Tel Aviv paid for by the American Jewish Committee. Other fact-finding missions have taken him to Budapest, Hungary; Berlin and Cologne, Germany; Taiwan; Cairo, Egypt; Kazakhstan; Saudi Arabia; Ankara, Turkey; New Delhi, India; Bahrain and Morocco.

Island Hopping

In 2004, Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Miami), his wife, Leslie, and their two children took a three-day trip to the Turks and Caicos to attend the People’s National Party Convention. The trip, valued at $4,631, was paid for by the Turks and Caicos People’s National Party. Meek has taken trips valued at $86,796 since 2000.

Passing the Bill
Privately funded travel by members of the Florida delegation:
Member of Congress	Total Value	Trips
Rep. Robert Wexler (D)	$174,004	20
Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R)	117,307	12
Rep. Kendrick Meek (D)	86,796	25
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)	79,748	12
Rep. Corrine Brown (D)	76,243	32
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R)	41,265	8
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R)	38,292	12
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)	34,587	21
Rep. Allen Boyd (D)	27,592	9
Sen. Bill Nelson (D)	24,958	22
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R)	21,329	1
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R)	20,412	5
Rep. Jeff Miller (R)	15,931	10
Rep. Tom Rooney (R)	14,947	1
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D)	10,075	1
Rep. Adam Putnam (R)	7,557	5
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R)	7,521	2
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D)	2,602	2
Rep. John Mica (R)	2,587	2
Rep. Kathy Castor (D)	1,793	1
Rep. Bill Posey (R)	983	1
Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (R)	286	1
Figures for travel between 2000 and 2009. Not every member of the Florida delegation is listed — only those lawmakers who have accepted privately funded trips and filed disclosure forms are included.

African Interest

[Illustrations: Rob Zammarchi]

Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Monticello) and his wife, Cissy, took an 11-day trip to Nairobi, Kenya, and Zanzibar, Tanzania, during the summer of 2008 to “learn more about conservation and other important issues relating to east Africa, including collaborative efforts under way to combat HIV/AIDS as well as economic development, health, education and other pertinent issues,” according to his trip disclosure forms. During one leg of the trip, Boyd learned how the Laikipia Predator Project is tracking and collaring lions. He also traveled to Zanzibar to learn about the endemic red colobus monkey. He has taken $27,592 worth of trips since 2000.

Trip Cost: $15,607

Sponsor: International Conservation Caucus Foundation

Yulee Bonanza

Yulee, a town of about 8,400 on the outskirts of Jacksonville, has become an out-of-the-way hot spot for congressional travelers. The reason? Yulee is home to the White Oak Plantation, a 7,400-acre tract of land that the late Howard Gilman, a paper magnate and photography collector, saw as a “catalyst for the development and implementation of new ideas.”

Now owned by the Howard Gilman Foundation, the plantation features conference facilities that can accommodate gatherings of up to 100 people. According to its website, the facility has hosted Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Colin Powell. The plantation features guest lodges and cottages furnished with antiques and artwork from around the world. Also located on the property is the 600-acre White Oak Conservation Center, a wildlife breeding, research and training facility where uncommon species like the Grevy’s Zebra roam and where Florida panthers are rehabilitated before being released back in the wild.

Political animals, it seems, are drawn there as well. In June, 10 Democratic House staffers traveled to the White Oak Plantation to attend seminars on “developing policy and messaging for a clean energy future,” according to the staffers’ travel forms. Their trip was organized and paid for by the Howard Gilman Foundation and Third Way, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank that calls itself the “moderate wing of the progressive movement.”

The White Oak Plantation defines its mission as serving as a “catalyst for the development and implementation of new ideas.”

The White Oak Plantation defines its mission as serving as a “catalyst for the development and implementation of new ideas.” [Photo: Jacksonville Times Union]

Who’s Paying for Those Trips?

Florida special interests have sponsored their share of congressional junkets over the past decade. Some of the top sponsors:

[Photo: Scott Bauer]

Florida Sugar Cane League: Helped foot the $78,777 bill for 89 trips that staffers made to Florida between 2000 and 2006 to tour fields and processing plants and learn more about the state’s sugar cane industry.

Florida Municipal Electric Association: Helped to pay for 22 staffers to visit Florida between 2000 and 2004 so that the aides could learn about Florida’s community-owned electric utilities. The trips totaled $48,435. The American Public Power Association and the Florida Municipal Power Agency also helped pay for some of the trips.

Florida Farm Bureau: Spent $29,640 from 2000-03 flying congressional staffers to Florida to educate them on various agricultural issues.

Airbus Industries: Spent $20,265 between 2002 and 2005 shuttling 18 congressional aides to Miami to tour the company’s flight training center.

International Speedway Corp.: Spent $20,408 between 2003 and 2005 shuttling 26 congressional staffers to Daytona Beach to tour the Daytona International Speedway and learn about the tax treatment of entertainment complexes. At the time, the company was seeking “a permanent extension of the current seven-year depreciation period for motorsports parks.”

Florida Citrus Mutual: Spent $17,475 between 2000 and 2004 bringing 16 congressional staffers to Florida to learn about the state’s citrus industry.

Univision: Paid $2,887 in 2007 to fly three members of Congress to Miami to appear on the network’s television shows.

Biscayne Foundation: Last September flew Michigan Rep. John Conyers and a staffer to Fort Lauderdale at a cost of $1,057 to attend a healthcare town hall meeting at Florida International University. According to the travel certification form that Conyers filed with the House Ethics Committee, the Biscayne Foundation was planning and organizing public field hearings on the healthcare crisis under the auspices of the National Academies of Practice, a Maryland-based non-profit professional organization that advises public policy-makers on healthcare issues. According to its website, the NAP supports a public option for financing universal access to care as well as “innovative interdisciplinary models for primary and preventive care.”

Seminole Tribe of Florida: Sponsored three staffer trips between 2003 and 2005 at $1,037.

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium and Center for Elephant Conservation: Teamed up with Feld Entertainment, owner of Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, to bring eight congressional staffers (and some of their family members) to Florida between 2000 and 2003 to learn about the southwest Florida groups’ conservation activities. The trips came to $6,295.

Destination Florida

The Sunshine State is a top travel destination for members of Congress and their aides, especially during the winter. Since 2000, congressional lawmakers and their staffers have received more than

$4.4 million worth of privately funded trips to Florida. This year, dozens of congressional lawmakers have descended on Florida to tackle everything from healthcare reform to tax policy. Not every region of the state has benefited equally from congressional tourism, however. While Miami has welcomed more than 500 visitors from Capitol Hill over the past decade — the cost of those trips totaling more than $840,000 — St. Augustine has only attracted two travelers.

Top Destinations in Florida
(Privately funded congressional travel — 2000-09)
Destination	Trips	Cost
Miami	524	$840,692
Orlando	345	468,207
Fort Lauderdale	217	362,248
Jacksonville	163	220,581
Palm Beach	155	256,059
Naples	131	272,679
Aventura	130	362,312
Tampa	113	117,939
Boca Raton	97	248,443
West Palm	93	153,401
Amelia Island	82	139,226
St. Petersburg	73	137,196
Key Largo	52	103,172
Sarasota	44	49,927
Key West	38	64,046
Fort Myers	36	60,876
Clewiston	33	27,846
Duck Key	29	48,683
Daytona Beach	28	23,084
Key Biscayne	26	86,613