Criticism flies in controller’s race

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Assemblyman John Lee, the Democratic candidate for state controller, early in the campaign criticized incumbent Republican Kathy Augustine for her out-of-state travel, but now she has turned the tables on him.

"He's been throwing stones when he lives in a glass house," Augustine said, citing several trips at state expense Lee has taken.

She said Friday she was surprised that Lee would take so many trips out of state, then criticize her.

Records in the Legislative Counsel Bureau show that in his three terms Lee has traveled out of state 10 times to such places as British Columbia, Denver, Chicago, Dearborn, Mich., Santa Fe, N.M., Idaho Falls, Idaho, Indianapolis and Hartford, Conn.

Lee said his travel was related to events to benefit the state.

"I go to all the nuclear waste meetings," he said, adding the meetings are not held at tourist destinations.

In addition, Lee said, he sits on the water policy committee at the National Conference of State Legislators.

"I pick and discreetly choose the events I go to," he said. "If this is the meanest thing she can say, than that's good for me. I wish I could have her frequent flier miles."

Augustine said she was surprised to hear Lee's criticism of her trip to Taiwan after he had gone to British Columbia to attend the Conference of State Governments at a cost of $662 to taxpayers. She said her trip to Taiwan didn't cost the state a penny.

Lee said Augustine "found a way to invite herself" on the Taiwan junket and that it had "no substantial benefit to the controller's office. It's not the job of the controller to establish foreign ties."

Augustine said, however, the trip was part of an economic development effort on behalf of the state.

"I'm surprised he's going after me when the trip didn't cost the state anything," she said.

Lee complained that Augustine spent two weeks at the John Kennedy School of Leadership in the East Coast and that had "nothing to do with the state controller's office." Yet she was on full state salary during that period, Lee said.

Augustine said that school provides valuable lessons in running government.

Lee has suggested Augustine spends more time running a travel agency than in the controller's office, which handles billions of dollars in transaction every year.

Augustine has a Delta Airlines card that entitles her to free flights anywhere in the world because she is a former employee of the company.

At most of the nuclear waste meetings attended by Lee, the state picks up only the per diem and not the travel cost. For instance, he attended meetings on high-level radioactive waste in Denver, where the state paid only $61 for his food; in Santa Fe, where he was reimbursed $35; in Washington, where the state paid $96; in Hartford, where Lee was reimbursed $257; in Idaho Falls, where he received $30 for food; and in Washington, where the state paid $777.

Among other out-of-state trips was one to Dearborn for the annual meeting of the Council of State Governments, for which Lee was reimbursed $1,298; another trip to the conference in Chicago cost the state $1,261; and one to the National Conference of State Legislatures in Indianapolis cost the state $735.