The General Assembly spent substantially less money on legislative travel in 2009 than in 2007, as “Under the Dome” reports here.
Midway through this edition of Carolina Journal Radio, you’ll hear an interesting discussion of a proposed trip to Louisiana for a legislative study group working on offshore energy issues. The group scuttled the field trip after determining that it might generate too much bad publicity.
In the words of committee co-chairman and former UNC-Wilmington Chancellor James Leutze:
I think we want to be like Caesar’s wife on this. We want to not only be pure, but we want to appear pure. And we don’t want there to be any room for misunderstanding that this is some kind of junket that we’re taking or something else. … I am sorry it has not worked out the way we all wanted it to, but we do have to realize the exigencies of the state’s budget situation, as well as the sensitivity to public comment.
