From the Shenandoah's Daily News Record:
Over the past five years, educational and nonprofit groups spent
$54,570.89 shuttling U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte around the world on 32 trips, traveling everywhere from Budapest, Hungary, to Anchorage, Alaska.Members of his staff, meanwhile, accepted 196 trips that cost the sponsoring organizations $223,922.04.
Of the 535 members of Congress, Goodlatte, R-6th, and his staff are seventh on the list of offices accepting the most privately funded trips, according to a recent study by three journalistic groups.
One such organization the project has identified is the Ripon Educational Fund, a nonprofit organization in which six of the nine members of the board of directors are registered lobbyists, according to the study's research. The group schedules policy conferences in Europe each year and pays for some congressmen to attend. In 2004, they footed an $80,000 bill for nine congressmen, including Goodlatte, to visit the conference in Hungary....Nonprofit trade associations, organizations made up of corporations in a particular industry, can also pay for congressional travel.... One such organization, CTIA-The Wireless Organization, a trade organization for wireless communications, has paid for Goodlatte or his staffers to attend their annual conference for the past five years [held in vacation destinations like New Orleans and Las Vegas].
King of the nerds and his crown prince.
1. 6th District voters pay attention to issues not gimmicks. They don't care how you look, where you were born, or whether you hunt deer...but they darn sure care about how you vote;
2. 6th District voters like to see their Congressman. Bob Goodlattes has logged more miles up and down I-81 than most truckers. If you go to Wright's Dairy Rite in Stauntion, VA, you will see his autographed picture hanging on the wall. They love him there....because he is almost like a neighbor to these folks. In this modern age of campaigns, candidates forget that they must still do the retail politicking. A solid candidate should spend most of his entire day....8 hours or more...on the campaign trail. Earned media is great...but nothing takes the place of a good old fashioned handshake;
3. 6th District voters support candidates they trust. They will not support candidates who pander to left wing special interests groups in primaries...and then tact back to the center in the general; and
4. Just as the Shenandoah Valley was the bread basket of the Confederacy, so too has it become the bread basket for Republican candidates in th 6th District.
It might be getting a little boring for Bob in the House of Reps, just like the Senate is boring for George Allen. After all, Goodlatte probably doesn't have to think for himself very much in order to get his 100% approval rating from the Christian Coalition.
I'd love to see a great Democratic challenger provide Rep. Goodlatte with more time for travel. But golly, how would he fund his trips without a vote to sell?