In mid-June we learned Gov. and Mrs. Easley went to Italy at a cost of $170,000 in tax dollars, including more than $50,000 spent on a chauffered Mercedes. Then last week, we learned about a Wake County employee who spent taxpayer money on outrageous trips to the Magic Kingdom and to watch whales in Maine at a cost of about $161,000 in public funds.
Today, we learn from the News & Observer that First Lady Mary Easley and a delegation took “cultural exchange” trips to France, Russia and Estonia at a cost to taxpayers of $109,000, including a $624 dinner on May 12 that included leg of pheasant, rabbit and black truffles.
It appears that only the state trooper, who was on the trip for security reasons, had the common sense to realize the spending of public dollars was ridiculous. From the News & Observer:
On May 12, the delegation dined by itself at the Palkin restaurant. The receipt shows the state officials ordered entrees such as leg of pheasant with homemade sausages, and rabbit with black truffles and foie gras.
Evans didn’t bill the state for the $647 spent on two bottles of wine and a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut Champagne. Taxpayers paid $624.54 for the food.
The trooper, C.H. Alford, mostly stuck to the state’s limits on spending. He typically billed the $7.50 for breakfast, $9.75 for lunch and $19 for dinner allowed under the state’s policy.
Alford joined the delegation at Palkin.
“He didn’t eat much,” Wheeler said.
The same night the delegation dined at Palkin, Wheeler billed the state for $175 in food and drinks at the hotel. He said he wasn’t sure what that was for.
“It could have been for hors d’oeuvres and drinks. I don’t know,” he said.
We owe a thank you to Trooper Alford.
