This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 5, 2011 - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon defended Thursday his frequent travels around the state, saying that voters didn't elect him to "to be cloistered'' in Jefferson City. And by Friday, his likely nemesis for 2012 -- Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder -- was doing some defending of his own.
Nixon, a Democrat, offered up his most spirited defense yet, in the wake of continued Republican attacks about his regular travels around the state.
Nixon discussed the matter after touring Volpi Foods' deli on the Hill neighborhood in St. Louis with company president Lorenza Pasetti. Nixon had stopped by the restaurant to announce an increase in Missouri exports during 2010.
According to documents recently released by the Missouri Department of Administration, Nixon has spent about $400,000 in taxpayer dollars on air travel around the state since taking office in January 2009.
Nixon said that previous governors also traveled frequently around the state because it's necessary to see the public and have the public see their governor.
Even so, Republicans -- led by Kinder -- have been hammering the governor over the trips' costs, and the fact that the bulk of them were billed to other state agencies.
Nixon's staff maintains that his trips were charged to the agency or department whose activity was the focus of his trip; Republicans and some Democrats say that all Nixon trips should be directly paid by the governor's office so that the trips are more transparent.
But state travel records show that Kinder, who has traveled on far fewer flights than the governor, also has at times engaged in the same approach for paying for them.
Travel documents released Thursday by the Department of Administration show that Kinder in 2008 flew on at least three flights that appear to have been covered by other state agencies: the departments of Mental Health, Economic Development and the Veterans Commission.
Three other flights were billed to Kinder's office.
The total 2008 cost of Kinder's air travel was about $10,200, according to the department's records.
UPDATE:
Kinder replied Friday that his use of state planes in 2008, including several trips charged to other state agencies, cannot be equated with the "overuse, misuse and abuse'' of state planes by Nixon.
Kinder said in a telephone interview that all but one of his six flights in 2008 were taken while he was acting governor because then-Gov. Matt Blunt was out of state. Kinder said he was acting governor for more than 100 days during Blunt's four-year tenure, and some of the flights were made at Blunt's directive.
His use of the planes sharply differs from Nixon's, Kinder added. In his case, he said, "this was not the governor hopping on the airplane and flying to Silver Dollar City, or flying to a basketball or baseball game."
Kinder added that it was appropriate for some gubernatorial flights to be billed to other state agencies, if their activities or achievements were the reason for the flight.
He contended that he has never attacked Nixon on the billing issue, although other top Republicans have done so.
Kinder said his attacks at Nixon were directed chiefly at his frequent-flying habit. "He has flown an average of once every three days,'' Kinder said. "I've flown six times in six years."
Some information for this story was contributed by Jason Rosenbaum, a freelance writer who reports on governmental and political issues.
