March 11, 2009 12:29 AM UTC

Ritter Criticized for Pricey China Plane Tix

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• by: Colorado Pols

From Channel 7 News:

In the middle of the current economic crisis, Gov. Bill Ritter and nine other state employees spent more than $78,000 to conduct a trade mission to Asia that included taxpayers paying for business-class flights and five-star hotels, a CALL7 investigation found.

Ritter defended the trip and the expenses, saying it is important to market the state overseas so that foreign businesses will bring investment and jobs into the Colorado.

“It’s important for us to continue to economically develop this state,” Ritter told CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski. “And to have a strategy for doing that.”

But before and after the trip, Ritter and his staff knew the state was facing a large budget shortfall.

“We think our first order of business should be to prudently manage the budget,” Ritter said during his State of the State address less than two months after the Asia trip.

Travel documents show that taxpayers paid $6,615 each for three business class tickets that Ritter and two other top state officials used to fly ANA Airlines from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back. That was a total of nearly $20,000…

…All 10 state employees stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Beijing and while the state obtained a discounted rate of about $230 a night per room, a search on travel Web sites shows that four- and five-star rooms that are could be found for about $150 a night.

Don Elliman, head of the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said there were discussions about cancelling or scaling back the trip but state officials decided to go forward.

“Could it have been canceled?” Kovaleski asked

“We talked about it — discussed it. I think the governor and I came to the same conclusion,” Elliman said.

“Is this trip justifiable?” Kovaleski asked.

“Oh, I believe it was yes,” he said…

…Ritter justified the trip, saying 10 other governors had been to Asia in the past year to drum up business. Specifically, he said the governor of Oregon was there just the day before.

But the comparison to Oregon’s trip shows how Colorado’s trip could have been done for less money.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski spent less than $51,000 for the trade trip, taking seven people for nine days. Colorado’s trip cost 35 percent more with its 10 state delegates traveling for 11 days.

Kulongoski also paid $2,900 for economy class while Ritter flew business class at $3,700 more than Oregon taxpayers paid.

Look, criticizing the Governor’s office for not getting a slightly cheaper deal on hotel rooms is a bit silly, but it was an avoidable mistake to pay for business class flights. Ritter’s office should have known that would look bad, whether it was justifiable or not–and pointing out Oregon’s example (they flew coach) didn’t exactly help. No doubt we haven’t seen the last of this little story, however inconsequential it’s exactly the sort of thing voters love to hate: watch for it during your favorite commercial break in the fall of 2010.