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To: Rarebird who wrote (59350)	10/5/2000 8:37:16 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116762

OT <<PS BTW, Hillary has a double digit lead over Lazio in NYS. >> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Elizabeth Morra/John Scofield September 28, 2000 (202) 226-5828 KOLBE CRITICIZES FIRST LADY CAMPAIGN TRAVEL DISCREPANCIES White House Under-reported $300,000 The Full Travel Report Can Be Accessed Here (MS Excel 74K) Washington, DC -- House Treasury-Postal Subcommittee on Appropriations Chairman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) criticized the White House today for providing his panel with erroneous details on First Lady Hilary Clinton's campaign travel to New York. Kolbe received the new report from the White House last night. The report responds to a September 20th letter from House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young and Chairman Kolbe sent to the White House requesting more information on discrepancies widely reported in the press on the First Lady's use of government aircraft for her New York Senate campaign. The Chairmen became concerned after reading press reports that New York State Assemblyman Michael Bragman and his family traveled from Syracuse to Washington D.C. on government aircraft December 22, 1999. At Kolbe's insistence, since May of this year, the White House has been submitting monthly reports on the First Lady travel to the Committee. Information provided by the White House in earlier reports to the Committee did not include the December 22nd Syracuse stop and only listed one political passenger on the trip. The new documents, however, include the Syracuse stop and now show a total of seven political passengers. The new information also admits that the White House under-reported airplane costs by nearly $300,000. "When it comes to the First Lady's travel costs, the White House is providing my Committee with incomplete, inaccurate, and sloppy data, which is full of errors. It is only after they are caught in their own lies that the truth comes to light," said Chairman Kolbe. "At best, this is an example of bureaucratic incompetence -- at worst -- it's an attempt to cover up the true cost to taxpayers. The White House made 28 changes to flight hours, five changes to destinations, and failed to account for seven trips. I've lost confidence that any information I'm receiving is accurate." Kolbe also expressed concern that the White House has admitted calling in contractors with special auditing skills to work on the travel reports. "We've simply asked for trip manifests, why in the world would the White House need special outside auditors?" asked Kolbe. "They must be doing more down there than compiling reports." The new information also exposed the fact that the First Lady is not only traveling on C-20's as originally detailed. On November 4th, she flew with the White House Photographer and a Trip Coordinator on a C-32 (comparable to a commercial 757) to California and Las Vegas for a cost of $123,000. Her campaign reimbursed $3,723. The taxpayer paid $120,000 for the campaign stop. The $300,000 error now brings total First Lady airplane operating costs to $1.515 million, of which her campaign has reimbursed $203,700, leaving $1.312 million to be paid by American taxpayers. house.gov