Massachusetts State Auiditor
Photo by: Arthur Pollock
Are these high maintenance women?
[From article]
State Auditor Suzanne Bump since taking office has racked up nearly $30,000 in travel expenses, including jetting off to 16 out-of-state conferences, booking hotel rooms for events only miles from her home and attending funeral services for fallen Bay State firefighters, a Herald review found.
Taxpayers have picked up the bill for $29,451 in Bump travel costs since January 2011, when she took office, according to a Herald review of data obtained through a public records request. That just about matches the combined $30,000 travel expenses rung up by two attorneys general, two state treasurers, the secretary of state and the inspector general during that same period, the review found.
Bump’s expenses also include the $14.40 she was reimbursed to attend the funerals of two Boston firefighters who perished in a 2014 Back Bay blaze, and $1.80 to drive to a Goodwill Thanksgiving event in Roxbury.
[. . .]
Former Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan, now at the Pioneer Institute, criticized Bump’s expenses, saying, “I really think the office has to focus within the borders of Massachusetts and get the job done. The best way to save taxpayer money is, don’t spend on yourself. The fact that the auditor is spending far more than the other constitutional officers should be a signal that the auditor ought to rein it in and focus taking care of business back home.”
Bump, in an interview in her office yesterday, said she goes to “great pains” to ensure that travel costs come at “the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2015/09/state_auditor_racks_up_hefty_travel_bill
State auditor racks up hefty travel bill
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
By: Matt Stout
Boston Herald
* * *
[From article]
Attorney General Maura Healey has literally put on the Ritz while charging nearly $7,000 in travel expenses to taxpayers during her eight months in office, twice flying off for conferences, including a stay at the Ritz-Carlton in the nation’s capital, a Herald review shows.
Healey’s travels put her on pace to outdo her predecessor, former AG Martha Coakley, whose travel costs totaled $18,600 in her second term,
[. . .]
Healey has jetted off to conferences for the National Association of Attorney Generals in Washington, D.C., where she stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, and San Diego, where she checked into the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. Her office said she stayed at both hotels because that’s where the conferences were held.
[. . .]
Other constitutional officers have spent far less in recent years.
• Secretary of State William F. Galvin has dropped just $2,000 on travel since 2011, all for flights to testify before congressional panels in Washington, according to a spokesman.
Unlike Auditor Suzanne Bump, who is reimbursed for travel in her personal car, Galvin has a state-leased car. Healey, like Coakley, uses a state trooper escort to travel in-state.
• Former state Treasurer Steve Grossman charged $720 for Amtrak tickets, the only expense the treasury could find from his four years beyond his use of a state-leased vehicle.
Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg has spent roughly $1,000 to attend a conference during her first eight months, but she uses her personal car and has not charged for reimbursements.
Inspector General Glenn Cunha, while not a constitutional officer, is charged with finding spending abuse just like the auditor. He has spent $670 in three years since his appointment, including on one conference to New Orleans. He also uses his personal car, for which he’s charged for reimbursements twice.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2015/09/ag_s_expenses_on_pace_to_exceed_predecessor_s
AG’s expenses on pace
to exceed predecessor’s
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
By Matt Stout
Boston Herald
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