Wayne Brown's European Vacation

Wayne Brown's elocution in today's Sun Herald is pure literature. He writes a letter to the editor:

Dear Editor:

I am writing in reference to your article “Sun Herald investigation: “Officials travel the world on taxpayers’ dollars” that appeared in today’s paper (January 15, 2009). Each morning as Transportation Commissioner, I have a choice. I can:

1. Sit on the porch and have no expenses.

Or

2. Go out in the field and work for the people that elected me and have expenses.

Sincerely,
Wayne Brown Southern District Transportation Commissioner

Oooh, snap. What is this about? Well, apparently Brown thinks that MDOT stands for Mississippi Department of Tourism.

The Sun Herald reported yesterday that the top officials at MDOT have billed the taxpayers or special interest groups for trips to Budapest, Vienna, Brussels, Puerto Rico, Cancun, Key West, San Francisco, Walt Disney World (maybe they studied the monorail), Cape Cod, New York City and both country entertainment meccas Branson, Missouri and Opryland in Nashville.

The Brown boys (Butch and Wayne, no they're not cowboys) did most of "taxpayer-funded travel. Butch spent at least $80,000 and Wayne $69,000." Wayne is the elected commissioner from the southern part of the state. Butch is the appointed executive director, chosen by a majority vote of the three commissioners (Wayne Brown and Bill Minor voted for him, Dick Hall voted against him).

The state’s four highway officials have spent about $207,000 on travel over the last four years, according to the 1,700 pages of expense reports the Sun Herald recently requested.

Many trips for MDOT officials are funded by road-building industry groups, whose member businesses depend on lucrative state road construction contracts approved by MDOT leaders.

The appearance of such perks provided by the industry has prompted Alabama’s Department of Transportation to institute a policy that all ALDOT officials attending such conferences pay their own way.

MDOT leaders say their travel is all work-related and necessary to their jobs. MDOT is charged with overseeing state transportation, primarily the building and maintenance of state and federal roadways in Mississippi. They say they don’t see any ethical problem with construction companies or equipment and material suppliers paying for them to travel and dine.

Butch Brown and Wayne Brown said a European trip they took — at a cost of about $7,000 to taxpayers — with stops in Brussels, Budapest and Vienna, was to study how rivers and ports in those areas are used for moving cargo.

It only gets better. Reporter Michael Newsom continues taking us on MDOT's global road trip.

While Mississippi’s top four transportation officials travel often at taxpayer expense, they also are frequently taken away with their wives to popular tourist destinations and put up in luxury hotels with tabs picked up by groups of road builders who receive construction contracts from MDOT.

On the San Francisco trip in spring 2008, which was funded by the Mississippi Road Builders Association, Wayne Brown said he took an offered tour of the California Wine Country. Some of the commissioners and their wives took the optional trips to Alcatraz, tours of the city, and other trips, which were included on the agenda. The officials also stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel just off Union Square, a popular shopping and cultural area, on the Road Builders Association’s tab.

In addition to the San Francisco trip, Mississippi’s road-building industry has funded the officials’ travels to meetings at resorts in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Key West, Fla., and Orlando — where Cirque du Soleil tickets were offered — and other locations during the four-year period for which the Sun Herald requested MDOT’s travel records. In February, Wayne Brown was the lone commissioner to attend a meeting of the Mississippi Asphalt Pavement Association in Cancun, Mexico. The group paid for his lodgings at the Ritz-Carlton there, as well as his airfare.

It's not surprising these same special interests paying for the trips (when it isn't taxpayers that is) also fund their campaigns.

One of the largest donations was $10,000 from Lawrence Warren, head of Warren Paving, to Wayne Brown in January 2007. The Hattiesburg company received a $37.5 million contract for some of the Mississippi 67 four-lane project in November 2006.

Don't worry, the Browns have good excuses.

“When you look at my expenses or those at DOT and consider the responsibility we have, I am not embarrassed by them,” Wayne Brown said.

And, he said, it’s often hard work. He said a junket he and Butch took through Brussels, Belgium; Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria, at taxpayer expense was very tiring.

“We went to the different ports and places,” Wayne Brown said. “It worked the dog out of me. I thought we would have a little time for relaxation. There was very little of that. It was fascinating to see how Europe uses canals, railroads and highways.”

This has to be my favorite response.

One golf event benefiting those with mental retardation that Wayne Brown and other officials attended in West Point, Miss., left the state with a $270 bill for one night at the lodge at the Old Waverly golf course, which was reimbursed to Wayne Brown. Wayne Brown, who doesn’t golf, said he didn’t remember paying that much.

“Was that room $270 for me?” Wayne Brown said. “Wow. I don’t remember that, but anyway. Ouch.”

Ouch. That's like saying "my bad" and making it all better.

Great reporting from the Sun Herald and Michael Newsom. Here is a link to all the stories: MDOT Road Trip.