Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009

Sanford: Other govs upgraded trips, too

Former Governors Jim Hodges, David Beasley and Carroll Campbell flew first class or business class on foreign trips, including one in which Hodges used a Concorde supersonic jet to return from France, according to records released Wednesday by Gov. Mark Sanford’s office.

Sanford has been under fire for traveling business class. The records show officials of the state Department of Commerce or its predecessor agency bought either first-class or business-class tickets 230 times since 1984.

In some cases, memos in the records discuss ticket upgrades. In others, the tickets were first class or business class because of the price, according to Sanford’s office.

The records also show Sen. John Land, the leader of the Senate Democrats and a Sanford critic, accompanied Hodges on one foreign trade mission. According to Sanford’s office, Land “presumably” traveled first or business class.

Land, contacted late Wednesday, said he personally paid for his and his wife’s first-class tickets.

Hodges said Wednesday that no taxpayer money paid for foreign flights during his administration and he believes the same is true for previous governors, who had access to a special economic development fund built with corporate donations.

However, a 2002 Legislative Audit Council report critical of the fund concluded revenues from private sources become public when they are received by the department. The fund no longer exists.

Hodges said he used the Concorde to make it back in time for the July 1, 2000 removal of the Confederate flag from the State House dome. He said he had a reception in France the night before and had to be back in Columbia by midday for the flag removal.

Beasley could not be reached for comment.

Campbell died in 2005.

Sanford, whose air travel in state and commercial aircraft has raised questions and triggered requests for an ethics investigation, collected foreign travel records for administrations dating to 1984 and sent them Wednesday to Sen. David Thomas of Greenville County, chairman of a Senate panel examining Sanford’s travel.

Thomas has said he believes some of Sanford’s foreign flights violated a state travel law that requires state employees to choose the least expensive method of travel.

Sanford disagrees with Thomas’ interpretation of the law, arguing that it is not valid, is nearly 30 years old and has not been enforced. He has said his business-class tickets were purchased by the Commerce Department, which he said has long bought such tickets for previous governors and other officials.

Sanford said no first-class tickets have been purchased for him.

Thomas asked Sanford’s office for documentation 10 days ago.

After a June 2000 trade trip to Europe, according to the records, Hodges flew from France to New York’s JFK Airport in three hours and 45 minutes at a cost of $4,311. Sanford’s office concluded the only plane capable of that flight was the Concorde.

Other examples cited in the letter and dozens of pages of spreadsheets, memos, itineraries and other documents include:

• A March 1996 European trade trip by a delegation including Beasley, whose airfare cost $8,358. A memo cited in the records states the delegation would have access to first-class and business-class lounges.

• A fall 1989 Asian trade trip by Campbell to Japan and South Korea with ticket prices of $2,903. Campbell’s senior legal counsel noted in a memo the price was business-class fare.

• A June 1999 European trade trip headed by Hodges that included Land, a Clarendon County Democrat who is the party’s leader in the Senate, and his wife. The trip cost $98,391, excluding costs for Land and his wife. The records show Land paid for his costs through the Senate. The records indicate he paid his wife’s costs.

“Presumably, Sen. Land and his wife traveled with the rest of the delegation and would have sat in first- and or business-class seats,” Swati Patel, Sanford’s chief legal counsel, said in a letter to Thomas.

Hodges, according to the records, made two foreign flights totaling $11,016; Beasley made seven totaling $28,945 and Campbell made 14 totaling $43,739. Former Gov. Dick Riley made two overseas flights totaling $4,790, according to the records. The records don’t indicate whether the tickets were first class or business class.

Thomas said his office has received the letter and information but he had has not read it.

“I think this is helpful,” he said of the information. “We’ll take a look at it.”

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