MEDILL NEWS SERVICE > Power Trips: Congress hits the road

CELI sponsors single most expensive trip in past year -- to Brazil
By RANA ROSEN and NICOLE DUARTE
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - A House Republican led five Democrats on a whirlwind tour of Brazil this time last year at a cost of $87,000 - paid mostly by a group whose board members are business lobbyists.

The Congressional Economic Leadership Institute and its co-sponsor, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, paid a little more than $20,000 for Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, one of those Democrats, and her grandson to take that trip to Brazil. Little did the institute know it would be the largest single amount spent on any member of Congress by private sponsors in the year ending mid-August -- the most recent year of data on privately sponsored travel compiled by Medill News Service.

Rep. Phil English of Pennsylvania, co-chairman of the Congressional Brazil Caucus, helped organize the November 2005 visit; in addition to Johnson, the four other Democrats were members of aviation, agriculture and trade committees.

Others travelers included two institute board members who are registered lobbyists: David Lustig of Unilever United States Inc. and William Ris of American Airlines. Three more lobbyist board members were listed as participants at an event at the Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange. The exchange issued a statement, dated Nov. 29, 2005, noting their presence. It was posted on an Internet archive.

David Klaus, president and chief executive officer of the leadership institute, would not confirm the participation of the lobbyists at the mercantile exchange. They could not be reached for comment.

The institute says its mission is to educate legislators on economic issues. It specifically states on its Web site that it does not lobby members of Congress. However, the organization's executive committee and board is composed of registered lobbyists who represent a subset of the institute's sponsors, including top pharmaceutical, automotive and business services companies.

Klaus said that about 75 percent of the cost of the November 2005 congressional excursion to Brazil was for business class airfare and personal security. He noted the entire visit adhered to House travel rules.

Those rules bar lobbyists from paying for congressional travel. However board members of a sponsoring group may attend even if they are lobbyists.

Advocacy groups are sensitive to the rules in the wake of the recent lobbying scandal in which lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to bribing members of Congress, in part through use of lavish trips.

Overall, members of Congress and their staff reduced their privately sponsored travel this year by two-thirds, according to a Medill News Service analysis of travel disclosure forms from Jan. 1, 2000 through mid-August 2006. They took trips valued at about $2.7 million in the first eight months of this year, compared with $8.3 million in private travel costs in each in the two previous years.

English said the purpose of the November 2005 visit was to educate his House peers on key U.S.-Brazil trade issues.

"We went to an Embraer plant and I saw them install a glass window that was manufactured in my district," English said. Brazilian airplane manufacturer Embraer is an institute sponsor.

English said the experience helped him develop relationships with businesses and legislators in Brazil.

"If these trips were just educational, you wouldn't have the lobbyists along," said Craig Holman -- a campaign finance lobbyist at Public Citizen who is working on legislation to curb abuses of privately sponsored congressional travel.

"This is special interests spending a great deal of money to influence American politics," he added.

But Klaus, who attended the trip, echoed English's explanation, saying the Brazil excursion was designed to educate U.S. representatives on Brazil's trade interests prior to a World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong.

"Members of Congress have historically viewed free trade agreements differently than the people who negotiate them," he said.

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, said, "In terms of agriculture, Brazil will continue to be a significant global competitor, and it's important to understand what the competition is doing."

While abroad, the House members met with Brazilian legislators and officials prominent in the international trade community. Congress members visited businesses and learned about multinational companies operating in Brazil. Costa characterized the five-day trip as full of "earnest discussion."

The trip cost Congressional Economic Leadership Institute and its co-sponsors $50,861 for transportation, $3,939 for lodging, $3,780 for meals for the six House members - English, Johnson, Michael Capuano of Massachusetts and three Californians - Dennis Cordoza, Jim Costa and Mike Honda. Three of the House members each brought a guest on the trip, which cost an additional $28,969.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which calls itself an "advocacy think tank," was listed by Honda and Johnson as a trip co-sponsor. The center helped pick up the tab, mostly with funds Klaus and the Wilson Center's Web site said came from the Inter-American Development Bank - which provides development funds in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"I like to paraphrase Confucius who said a picture is worth a thousand words," said Kent Hughes, a Wilson Center trade expert who attended the trip.

"A visit is worth a thousand pictures."

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