Nevada lawmakers take their trips elsewhere

Friday, June 17, 2005 | 5:16 a.m.

SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

WEEKEND EDITION

June 18-19, 2005

WASHINGTON -- While lots of other states' members of Congress travel to Nevada, the members of Nevada's congressional delegation travel elsewhere.

Like their colleagues, Nevada's federal lawmakers take two kinds of trips -- travel paid for by private or special interest groups and taxpayer-funded congressional trips. The following trips represent just those paid for by private or other groups.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., leads the state's delegation in trips paid for by special interest groups, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a money in politics watchdog group.

Since 2000, Berkley has taken nine trips totaling $82,359. She ranks 39th of 622 lawmakers who have served in Congress since 2000 in a ranking of lawmakers by the amount of money they have accepted for trips. Berkley, a member of the International Relations Committee, took seven trips overseas, accompanied by her husband, Larry Lehrner.

Berkley's trips (costs include her husband's expenses on overseas travel):

Berkley said she is very careful about accepting trips. She goes when it deepens her understanding of complex issues, especially those faced by the International Relations committee. She serves on the Middle East subcommittee.

"I think it is appropriate if the subject is tied to an issue that the United States Congress is confronting," Berkley said.

Berkley said there is very little down time for lawmakers amid a busy schedule of meetings, often with high-level officials. "It's strictly business," she said.

Trips taken by Nevada's other lawmakers:

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., (ranked 283rd) has taken seven trips, totaling $19,514. He went to:

Ensign declined comment on his trips. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel is an evangelical group. The church says it has more than 4 million worshippers in 142 countries.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., (ranked 406th) has taken two trips totaling $9,920 since he was elected in 2002. He went to Reno for a Safari Club International legislative dinner in February 2003, paid for by the club; and to Israel in August 2003 with his wife Laurie on an education mission, paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., (ranked 446th) took one trip, in March 2003, to Chile to tour mining operations there, with $6,874 in travel expenses paid by Placer Dome America, a mining company.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., (ranked 526th) has taken two trips, although the cost for an August 2000 trip to Israel, paid for by the Jerusalem Fund of Aish Hatorah, was not included in a trip report. A second trip, in July 2003, to Aventura, Fla., was for a speaking engagement. The $2,496 cost of the trip was paid for by the Association of American Railroads.