This week we were treated to the riveting story of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, who used state funds to meet his lady-love journalist in Buenos Aires. Sanford told his staff he was on a much more modest jaunt to the Appalachian Trail, which indicates that maybe he had a shred of shame about the whole business, but in the end, he said, "Well, it's not like I have any presidential ambitions, right?" Last year's luv guv Eliot Spitzer opted for the more budget-friendly train tickets and D.C. hotel accommodations, but those were different times.
Sanford's not the only one who feels the world has turned around enough to allow for gleeful spoiling at taxpayer expense: The Detroit Free Press reported that the trustees of the city pension fund spent $380,000 on travel last year, and then tried to cover it up when the paper sued for records. With 21 trustees, that's an average of $18,095 per person, although one trustee, Ronald Gracia, spent $105,000 of it alone, including an $18,600 trip to Hong Kong. ]]>
