Story Created:
Sep 29, 2008 at 9:38 PM EST
Story Updated:
Sep 29, 2008 at 9:38 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Democrat Jill Long Thompson's gubernatorial campaign continued to question Gov. Mitch Daniels' use of state aircraft Monday, while the governor's spokeswoman repeated the stand that Daniels has used state aircraft only when it involved official state business in areas he has visited.
Long Thompson campaign manager Travis Lowe said information provided by Daniels' office in response to a Freedom of Information request showed examples where aircraft stopped in locations that had no event listed on his public schedule, or his schedule had events listed for Indianapolis only.
The information the Long Thompson campaign presented Monday included an instance in which a state airplane flew to West Virginia, where Daniels has a vacation home, to fly him back to Indiana on July 6. Daniels' spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said that flight was so Daniels could attend a regatta at Madison to present the "Governor's Cup" — the winning trophy.
She said the people of Madison had requested he do that, so he considered it official business as governor.
The Long Thompson campaign also noted a flight to West Virginia on Aug. 3 to pick up Daniels and fly him to northwest Indiana, where his schedule showed him attending the Lake County Fair. Jankowski said Daniels has attended many state fairs since taking office to promote Indiana agriculture.
Jankowski said he and his wife, Cheri, always drive to West Virginia for their vacations, and usually drive back. On the two occasions where Daniels flew back on state aircraft, it was for official business, Jankowski said, and Cheri Daniels drove back.
A recent story by The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne said Daniels had logged about 85 percent as many flights in state aircraft in the first seven months of this election year as he did all last year.
Many of the flights were related to duties of office, but the newspaper said the mix included some trips that seemed political, including appearances at local parades and festivals and at least five speeches at Republican events called Lincoln Day dinners.
Daniels said after a debate last week that every one of his trips had official business attached to it in some manner.
Lowe said the Long Thompson campaign had filed a Freedom of Information request with Daniels' office seeking documents related to Daniels' use of state property for traveling by ground or air between Jan. 1, 2007 and Sept. 9.
He said they received a list of flights the governor took by air showing dates and airport destinations, and a list of his public schedule, and compared the two. They also asked for information on who was with the governor on his trips and documents from his office showing staff involvement in planning the trips — information they had not received.
Jankowski earlier provided The Journal Gazette with explanations for several trips unaccounted for, including one to attend a state trooper's funeral and one for a Bureau of Motor Vehicles event and job announcements.
Daniels' trips did include five speeches at Lincoln Day dinners, but there were other events in the areas that preceded them, Jankowski has said.
Lowe said that following some of Daniels' trips, there was a spike in campaign contributions from the areas he was in.
"It appears he repeatedly used state aircraft for nonofficial business, and that's potentially a violation of state law," Lowe said.
He said if part of Daniels' state air travel is to attend personal or political events, the cost of those portions of the trip should be reimbursed by his campaign. Lowe said a check of Daniels' political expenditures showed no such reimbursements.
The Long Thompson campaign has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate Daniels' air travel, but said it has not received a response. Inspector General Dave Thomas has said his office does not publicly respond to investigation requests.
When Lowe was asked if attending a parade or "anything like that" was purely political, he said Daniels had held himself to a higher standard when first running for office in 2004, "and it's sort of subjective whether he did that or not."
Jankowski said just because an event was not on Daniels' public schedule, it did not mean the governor was not using state aircraft for official business.
She said they could be trips for a National Guardsman's funeral, or meeting with a company in hopes of landing jobs or conducting business with federal officials.
"Many days he is not on the public schedule but he is conducting official business," Jankowski said.
