|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
Members of South Carolina’s fiscally conservative Freedom Caucus are under fire for using the Palmetto State’s taxpayer-funded plane to travel to a public policy conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
According to passenger manifests obtained by FITSNews, caucus leader Jordan Pace joined state representatives Thomas Beach, Stephen Frank, Jay Kilmartin, Chris Huff and Lee Gilreath (all caucus members) on the flights.
State representative Jeff Bradley, who is not a member of the caucus, joined them.
The conference in question was sponsored by the White House’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA). It took place earlier this week at the Eisenhower building adjacent to the West Wing. Dozens of other lawmakers attended the conference, most of them paying for their own airfare.
Here is one of the passenger manifests obtained by our media outlet…
***
***
Frank signed the manifest’s required certification, contending the trip – which included multiple legs on two different days – was for a “meeting with (the) White House domestic policy council,” thus qualifying as “official business of the state of South Carolina.”
Questioned by this author about the use of taxpayer-funded travel for such an event, Pace insisted he and his fellow caucus members sought guidance from ethics officials prior to embarking on the trips.
“We checked to see if this was an official office function,” Pace told FITSNews. “The answer was ‘yes’ all around.”
“Spouses weren’t invited, it wasn’t a caucus thing, it wasn’t a partisan thing,” Pace added.
While the use of the plane may have adhered to the letter of the law, that didn’t stop status quo “Republicans” from blasting Pace and his Freedom Caucus colleagues for the terrible optics associated with their decision. State representative Brandon Guffey, one of the lead attack dogs for fiscally liberal S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith, unloaded on Pace and his colleagues, noting “forty other (lawmaker)s paid their way.”
***
According to Guffey, Freedom Caucus members violated a state budget proviso which expressly excludes press conferences, bill signings and other political functions from the definition of “official business” for which members can use taxpayer-funded travel.
“This is simply pointing out the hypocrisy,” Guffey said, proceeding to challenge our media outlet (by name) to report on it.
“It’s a fair point when you preach taxpayer responsibility and take the state plane against the law to a partisan meeting every Republican was invited to,” Guffey wrote on X.
“If it wasn’t partisan, show me where Dems were invited,” Guffey added.
Pace rebuked Guffey and other establishment GOP lawmakers for their criticism, stating they were “upset because they wanted the plane” for themselves but failed to register it in time to use it for the conference.
Whatever prompted the criticism from Guffey – and whatever compelled him to single out our media outlet in his social media posts – the fact is Freedom Caucus members (and especially their leader) should have known better than to use the state plane for a trip like this. While these flights may have technically been in accordance with the proviso – and thus legally defensible – they are completely indefensible coming from a group of lawmakers that purports to stand for the best interests of taxpayers.
While the cost of these flights amounts to a mere drop in the bucket of the billions Guffey and his establishment allies waste every year, optics matter… and these optics are absolutely atrocious for the caucus members involved.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
SOUND OFF…
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
10 comments
Brandon Guffey, big mouth, POS little bully.
All those other Reps who were “paying for their own airfare,” are they getting reimbursed for it out of their campaign accounts, their expense accounts, or did they genuinely pay for it out of their own personal funds?
That would be Nice to Know!
Waiting for “the rest of the story. “
Freedom caucus is a joke, do as I say don’t look at what I actually do. Maybe it’s time to dig into their “secret” lives to see what they are actually up to
If they had a legitimate reason(s) to be in DC and if the policies covering those transportation costs would have allowed for airfare or milage then flying 7 people in the SC’s King Air is likely a much more efficient use of taxpayer resources than buying 7 airline tickets.
Also, not sure how long they were in DC but with commercial airline schedules it is possible that one or more hotel nights (x 7) could have been eliminated by using the SC aircraft.
If they each drove their personal vehicle and it was reimbursable it would cost the state over $5,000. Each member would have wasted a day up and a day back driving and possibly added an extra hotel night or two (times 7). Assuming just one extra hotel night at $250 plus parking ($50) then add another $2,000+ in to the mix.
It seems to me that this may be a good example of why more officials should seek to use the state’s aircraft for official travel.
You are missing the point entirely, this was not an allowed expense for them so it should have cost the taxpayers zero. As a comporium user you probably aren’t concerned with waste of taxpayer money since the so called freedom caucus helped push multi million dollar contracts their way.
No other reps used taxpayer funds to travel. Only those who used the plane. The state does not allow, and the clerk won’t sign off, on travel reimbursement given to a partisan event. That is what makes the use of the plane egregious
But you clowns have other ways to screw the taxpayer, year in and year out. You fell right in to being Murrells little bitch. None of you work for the taxpayers and citizens. NONE
Maybe give SLED the authority to investigate ethics and corruption at the State House instead of some feckless lackey of Robert S Mueller when he was at the FBI or that smoke screen of an agency with no teeth, the Ethics Commission.