BUSTED BY THE PRESS!

Bracing for a budget crisis back in January 2008 that now engulfs state government, Gov. Ted Strickland issued an executive order prohibiting all non-essential travel overseas and in the United States for state workers. But a Dispatch investigation shows that, although total state travel costs have declined, state employees continued to travel for an array of conferences, association meetings and other purposes, both out of state and overseas. Despite the administration's call for "a few limited exceptions" on travel, state workers took trips to Germany, Belgium and other countries and all over the nation, from San Francisco, Santa Monica and Portland to New York, Washington and Orlando. The trips sometimes involved stays at posh resorts or hotels, including Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Florida, Harrah's in Las Vegas, and the Plaza in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- sometimes at more than $300 a night. Some agencies also sent multiple employees to the same conferences and allowed workers to take multiple trips -- including trips after the governor issued a new order in April 2009 further cracking down on travel and other expenses. Although agency officials say they consider the travel essential, some critics question whether even the reduced amount of travel can be justified in the face of multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls that have forced the state to slash critical services and furlough workers. "I'd rather not see people laid off (from doing important work) than see them go to conventions in Las Vegas and New Orleans," said Henry Eckhart, an attorney for Common Cause Ohio. It also appears that the administration was not tracking overall travel trends to see whether the governor's order was having the desired effect. When The Dispatch obtained the travel data in January, it showed that total state travel in fiscal 2007 cost about $12 million. But four days before this story was to be published, the governor's office changed the number to $23.5 million, saying it discovered that the first total included only half of the fiscal year's expenses. That transformed what had appeared to be a large increase in travel outlays after Strickland's edict into a decrease. Among the examples of state travel costs uncovered from the newspaper's review of computer and paper records from the 10 state cabinet agencies with the largest amount of travel expenses: • Department of Development employees took six overseas trips last year, and the agency paid $25,000 in relocation expenses to the director of its office in Belgium who was replaced -- including two round-trip flights to Chicago from Brussels for him and one for his family. The agency said the trips were essential for jobs and that the relocation was required by contract. • Two auditors for the Department of Taxation based in Cincinnati flew to Hawaii and stayed in a hotel a block from Waikiki Beach for four days in January at a combined cost of $3,300. They met with an undisclosed entity suspected of owing taxes, and the department says the trip "paid for itself many times over" with taxes collected. • The Department of Job and Family Services had 118 employees who were paid mileage reimbursements last year in excess of the $4,400 cost of using a leased state vehicle instead. Four employees pocketed more than $10,000 for mileage, but the department said it is requiring workers with high mileage to use state cars starting in August. Strickland said he's not aware of any glaring abuses, especially with the overall decline in travel costs, and he argued the location of travel isn't as important as the purpose. But he said he will talk with his cabinet to determine whether further restrictions are needed and warned that more than just travel will be scrutinized. "I think there's going to be a tighter definition of everything that is considered essential," Strickland said. With Ohio facing a mounting budget shortfall in January 2008, the Strickland administration prohibited "non-essential travel" if state dollars were involved and encouraged agencies to use teleconferencing to save money. Data provided by Strickland's office show that overall travel declined by 21 percent from $24.4 million in calendar year 2007 to $19.2 million last year and has continued to drop this year. Agency officials say they are scrutinizing and limiting travel. They also point out that some trips are mandatory to maintain certifications and to continue receiving grants, and that other travel is paid entirely by federal funds or other sources. The state budget office has calculated that of the $25.9 million in total travel costs from the beginning of 2008 through May 31, $7.6 million was paid from federal grants or other sources and not state tax dollars. But critics say tax money is tax money, and even if every trip can be justified on its own, they expect overall tighter controls given the governor's orders and the state's fiscal crisis. "During this economic crisis, our public officials and government officials need to really, really look at what is essential," said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a nonpartisan government watchdog. Terry J. Collins, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, says he tells employees not to travel out of state unless someone else is paying. He also doesn't consider it essential for employees to attend conferences to network with peers or simply because they belong to a national organization. "I've had people say to me, 'Well, I need to go to this conference because I'm a member of the XYZ Club,' " Collins said. "Well, I appreciate the fact that you are, but it's not going to benefit this agency for you to go to that. It's nice to go to, it's nice to benchmark with other people, it's nice to interact with other people, you might learn something that will help us a little bit, but the cost is going to be greater than the benefit received." When state workers travel, there are limits for what can be spent for lodging and food. Because the maximum per diem was $60, taxpayers didn't pay the entire cost of the $77 dinner at Morton's in Houston, for example, that a Department of Taxation employee ate last month with lobster bisque, broccoli and a $48 New York Strip, records show. Even so, the amount that the state reimburses employees for food and other traveling expenses has varied depending on the employee. While nonunion workers were limited to $31 a day for all meals, for example, members of the state's largest union could spend up to $40 a day on meals in state and $60 per day out of Ohio because of their negotiated contract. That is changing this year, said Ron Sylvester, spokesman for Administrative Services. The new union contracts are adopting rates set by the federal government, which vary depending on the cost in different cities, and the state is expected to follow suit with a similar policy for nonunion employees, he said. But there also are exceptions to the travel restrictions imposed by the Strickland administration, including travel costs incurred by transportation employees whose jobs include monitoring the quality of steel or concrete being made at out-of-state facilities for projects in Ohio. Other exemptions are made for meals in foreign countries and for the state troopers who provide security as required by law for Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher. A trooper traveling with Strickland to New York in September, for example, stayed at the Sheraton Manhattan at more than $500 a night with taxes for three nights, records show. Strickland also stayed there, but the state did not pay because it was a campaign trip. The Department of Taxation led all cabinet agencies in out-of-state travel costs during fiscal 2008 and 2009 so far, with more than $1 million, including $421,000 in out-of-state lodging costs. Spokesman John Kohlstrand said department auditors must travel to meet with individuals or businesses across the nation that are required to pay state taxes to Ohio, and that the trips usually generate revenue for the state. The department has offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to help with audits in those regions. But the agency still sometimes sends auditors from Ohio or from one of the offices into another region -- such as an auditor based in Los Angeles flying to New York -- because of the circumstances involved. In the case of the Hawaii trip, for example, the two Cincinnati auditors went because they developed the lead that taxes were due and also had expertise with the type of entity involved, Kohlstrand said. He said he could not discuss specifics because of tax-related confidentiality reasons, but he said "the cost of that trip was a small percentage of the revenue that resulted." Among the travel costs at the Development Department since the governor restricted travel were six overseas trips totaling more than $28,000 in expenses, records show. Three trips were trade missions led by a single department employee to South Africa, Argentina/Brazil/Chile and Serbia/Hungary. Businesses that participated helped pay expenses and generated new sales as a result, the department said. The agency has announced plans to lead another trade mission to India from Aug. 1 through 13. Development staffers also took trips to Tokyo in March for $5,400 to help restructure the state's trade office there and to Hannover, Germany, in April at a cost of $5,800 to attend an international trade show, according to records. The other trip was for the director of the department's Global Markets Division to travel to Brussels last June at a cost of $4,000 to help finalize the departure of Paul Zito, who had been director of the state's Belgium office. The department and Zito mutually agreed to part ways, said Fisher, who was the state development director until February. He said Zito received $25,000 for relocation expenses because part of his employment agreement signed in 1996 said the state would pay those costs when he no longer worked for the state. Fisher defended the department's travel, saying although he would object to employee trips to vacation resorts, the state has a Global Markets Division because so many state jobs depend on trade. Still, state agencies largely were left to determine what constituted "essential" travel under the governor's restrictions. "What is essential in one person's mind is not essential in another's," Turcer said.