"Legislative entitlement".

Legislative entitlement
Travel costs just latest example

There's every reason to believe that Kentucky, with persistent low rankings in so many areas, can learn from other states.

So in some cases it certainly makes sense for legislators to travel to out of state meetings to collect ideas to improve the lives of Kentuckians.

But that's a long way from endorsing the $1.3 million in expenses and salary that, The Courier-Journal reported Sunday, legislators have burned through on out-of-state trips since 2006.

The report is troubling, particularly in light of other signs of a sense of legislative entitlement when it comes to spending taxpayer money. Is the air so rare in Frankfort that legislators believe spending so much on themselves is OK when the government can barely meet its most basic obligations in education, health care, social services and a host of other areas?

Reporter Tom Loftus' account of the travel spending includes some interesting details:

■ Lame duck Sen. Dick Roeding, R-Lakeside Park, made three trips lasting 19 days at a cost of $5,200 in expenses and $3,512 in salary while still holding office, but after his last day in an actual legislative session.

■ There is no travel budget for either house, and travel must be personally approved by the leader in each, Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green. Each expressed interest in trimming travel costs in light of the state's precarious financial condition, but neither had set guidelines or goals. Williams was unaware that Roeding planned to stay seven days, an unusually long time, on two of his trips.

■ The top traveler was Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, who was paid for 129 days spent on 29 trips at a total cost of $43,416 between Jan. 1, 2006 and Oct. 31 this year. Second was Williams, who logged 97 days on 21 trips at a cost of $39,923. Third was Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, with 85 days on 24 trips costing $38,166.

These big numbers come after a spate of other recent examples of legislative self-indulgence:

■ Increasing its own budget 13 percent this year while imposing a $230 million cut on the executive branch;

■ Increasing the salary for Legislative Research Director Bobby Sherman, from $132,840 to $195,000;

■ Evicting state agencies from the Capitol Annex to make way for larger, lusher legislative offices, resulting in over $400,000 in annual rents at privately owned offices to house the agencies;

■ Spending $639,000 on renovation and expansion for 11 Republican senators in 2006, including a $17,000 entertainment center in Williams' office featuring a 60-inch plasma screen TV.

All these dollars add up to an uneasy feeling that when legislators lecture about belt-tightening, they think it's someone else's belt that should be taken in a few notches.

Perhaps the next out-of-state meeting they attend should be on "leading by example."