Who paid for SC’s Haley, other job applicants to visit Trump Tower?

Since the election, more than 100 potential appointees to Donald Trump’s administration have traveled from all over the country to Manhattan to meet with the president-elect. Who pays for these transition meetings has been been as varied as the candidates themselves.

When S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley traveled to Trump Tower in November, the Republican Governors Association and the Republican National Committee covered her travel costs, according to her office. After the meeting, Trump nominated Haley to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

In other cases, state taxpayers picked up the tabs for their officials’ trips to New York.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who was appointed vice chairwoman of the Trump-Pence presidential transition team, used the state plane for her visit to Trump Tower. The trip cost Oklahomans more than $6,000, mostly for the cost of the fuel.

Most people who responded to McClatchy’s requests for information had paid their own way.

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue traveled to New York in a Delta coach seat “with no mention or expectation of reimbursement,” his spokesman said.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach also went a budget-savvy route. Kobach used his Southwest Airlines frequent flier miles to pay for the flight to New York, which, according to a spokesman, cost him only $5.60. And he found an unusual deal in a $125 hotel room in New York.

U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who was under consideration for Treasury secretary but ultimately was passed over, paid for his travel to Trump Tower with campaign funds, according to a spokeswoman.

The cost of the presidential transition itself is split between public and private dollars.

Presidents-elect financed their own transitions until 1963, when the Presidential Transition Act allowed for public funding. The law put the General Services Administration in charge of providing support for a smooth transfer of power.

This election cycle, the GSA received $9.5 million in taxpayer money to support Trump’s transition. This can be used for staff compensation, office space, travel and communication, among other needs.

The money includes $6 million for support as requested by the president-elect and vice president-elect, $1 million for orientation of political appointees, and $2.5 million to support the outgoing president and vice president.

While some of the money usually is spent on office space and administrative support in Washington to plan the transfer to the White House, Trump set up his transition headquarters in his New York skyscraper.

The president-elect also is allowed to raise money to pay for transition expenses.

President Bill Clinton covered more than 60 percent of his transition costs with private dollars. He raised $5.3 million privately and spent $3.49 million in taxpayer money. Obama’s team spent $5.2 million in taxpayer dollars and $4 million in private donations, while President George W. Bush’s transition spent $5 million in private money and $4 million in public money.

During Obama’s transition, his campaign chairman, John Podesta, announced the team would not accept donations from federal lobbyists, corporations, political action committees, labor unions and foreign agents. At the time, Podesta called it the “strictest and most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Who paid for SC’s Haley, other job applicants to visit Trump Tower?."