Workers continue travel despite governor’s order

By MARK NIQUETTE

Bracing for a budget crisis back in January 2008 that now engulfs state government, Gov. Ted Strickland issued an executive order prohibiting all nonessential travel overseas and in the United States.

But a Dispatch investigation shows that, although total state travel costs have declined, state employees continued to travel for an array of conferences, association meetings and other purposes, both out of state and overseas.

Despite the administration’s call for “a few limited exceptions” on travel, state workers took trips to Germany, Belgium and other countries and all over the nation, from San Francisco, Santa Monica and Portland to New York, Washington and Orlando.

The trips sometimes involved stays at posh resorts or hotels, including Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Florida, Harrah’s in Las Vegas, and the Plaza in Buenos Aires, Argentina — sometimes at more than $300 a night.

Some agencies also sent multiple employees to the same conferences and allowed workers to take multiple trips — including trips after the governor issued a new order in April further cracking down on travel and other expenses.

Although agency officials say they consider the travel essential, some critics question whether even the reduced amount of travel can be justified in the face of multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls that have forced the state to slash critical services and furlough workers.

“I’d rather not see people laid off [from doing important work] than see them go to conventions in Las Vegas and New Orleans,” said Henry Eckhart, an attorney for Common Cause Ohio.

It also appears that the administration was not tracking overall travel trends to see whether the governor’s order was having the desired effect. When the Dispatch obtained the travel data in January, it showed total state travel in fiscal 2007 cost about $12 million.

But four days before this story was to be published, the governor’s office changed the number to $23.5 million, saying it discovered that the first total included only half of the fiscal year’s expenses. That transformed what had appeared to be a large increase in travel outlays after Strickland’s edict into a decrease.

Among the examples of state travel costs uncovered from the newspaper’s review of computer and paper records from the 10 state cabinet agencies with the largest amount of travel expenses:

UDepartment of Development employees took six overseas trips last year, and the agency paid $25,000 in relocation expenses to the director of its office in Belgium who was replaced — including two round-trip flights to Chicago from Brussels for him and one for his family. The agency said the trips were essential for jobs and that the relocation was required by contract.

UTwo auditors for the Department of Taxation based in Cincinnati flew to Hawaii and stayed in a hotel a block from Waikiki Beach for four days in January at a combined cost of $3,300. They met with an undisclosed entity suspected of owing taxes, and the department says the trip “paid for itself many times over” with taxes collected.

UThe Department of Job and Family Services had 118 employees who were paid mileage reimbursements last year in excess of the $4,400 cost of using a leased state vehicle instead. Four employees pocketed more than $10,000 for mileage, but the department said it is requiring workers with high mileage to use state cars starting in August.

Strickland said he’s not aware of any glaring abuses, especially with the overall decline in travel costs, and he argued the location of travel isn’t as important as the purpose. But he said he will talk with his cabinet to determine whether further restrictions are needed and warned that more than just travel will be scrutinized.