International oil giant Atlantic Richfield Co. spent $42,000 to send House Speaker Newt Gingrich, his wife and two aides on a speaking trip to London last month–one of the most expensive trips disclosed so far under new rules that let special interests pay for travel for lawmakers.
Gingrich and his entourage spent five days in London in early December as the guests of Arco, which invited him to speak at a private annual dinner. He also met with Prime Minister Tony Blair and other political leaders, spoke publicly at London University and toured the Museum of Natural History, the zoo and Westminster Abbey.
While in London, Gingrich (R-Ga.) also met privately with Arco Chairman Michael Bowlin, mostly as preparation for his dinner speech, said Christina Martin, Gingrich’s spokeswoman.
By far the biggest item on the speaker’s travel tab was transportation. Air fare and ground transportation for Gingrich and his wife, Marianne, cost $20,268. Separate transportation for the two aides totaled $3,300.
The group stayed at Claridge’s, one of the city’s most exclusive hotels, which Martin said was Arco’s choice of lodging. Five days there for the speaker and his wife cost $12,225; for each of the aides, it averaged about $2,500. Meals for the group totaled $947.
Martin said the House ethics committee approved the trip in advance and defended it by saying it cost “less than a 90-minute flight aboard Air Force One,” the presidential jet.
She added: “I don’t think anyone questions the fact that the speaker sets his own agenda, leaving private sector entities only two options: support his proposals or don’t.”
Kent Cooper, executive director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, said the eye-popping cost of the trip does nothing but raise questions.
“I think in anybody’s mind, a member of Congress is going to remember who paid for it and consider it a very nice favor,” Cooper said. “That’s the kind of favor that raises questions because it’s unimaginable to most people that the entity would provide such a benefit and not expect anything for it.”
An Arco spokesman, Al Greenstein, said the company has sponsored the dinner every year since 1976, seeking speakers “whose views are of interest to an audience of government and business leaders of the United Kingdom” and top Arco executives.
Prior dinner speakers include former Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Jimmy Carter, retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.). Only Dole and Gingrich were in office when at the time of their speeches.
Rules that took effect two years ago banned most special-interest gift giving to members of Congress, but left one large exception: all-expense-paid travel. The rules require only that the trips be connected with a lawmaker’s official duties and be disclosed within 30 days. First-class travel and luxury accommodations are allowed as “reasonable” expenses–an interpretation critics say is a loophole for undue influence.
Before the new rules, special interests often sponsored lawmakers’ trips, but costs and details were not disclosed.
An Associated Press analysis of 1996 records showed various interests picked up the tab for $4.6 million in trips that year for members of Congress and their staffs. The most expensive trip in 1996 was a $16,000, 10-day journey to Africa by Rep. Jack Fields (R-Texas).
Arco is among leading oil companies seeking to develop oil resources in the environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; it has sponsored travel for congressional aides to the area to boost its arguments for drilling.
