Houston controller Ron Green, the city's top elected financial watchdog, has flown first class and frequented high-end hotels in New York and Chicago at taxpayer expense for more than two dozen publicly funded excursions, booking lodgings that cost as much as $460 per night and often exceeding maximum rates set by city policy, records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show.

In all, Green has billed for more than $35,000 in expenses for out-of-town trips in his first three years as the city's elected financial watchdog - taking far more city-funded jaunts than Houston's better-known mayor.

In April, taxpayers picked up the tab for Green's three-night stay at The Pierre, a luxury hotel on Fifth Avenue along Central Park - a historic five-star place promoted as "far more rare and special than the rest" even in New York, a city "where exclusive luxuries are the norm."

The public has paid top dollar for Green's airfare, too. Just one of his trips to the Big Apple cost $1,634 - one of four flights Green took that cost more than $1,000, expense reports show.

Unlike other city employees who must seek special permission to stay in pricey hotels even in New York City, the city controller - Houston's second most powerful elected official - doesn't need approval from anyone else for the many trips he's taken since January 2010, more than 10 of which were related to municipal bond deals.

More Information High-priced hotels Houston City Controller Ron Green repeatedly stayed at pricey hotels where nightly room rates exceeded maximums set by the city travel policy. 1 The Omni Berkshire Place NYC: $462.50, 72 percent over 1 W NYC in Times Square: $426.93, 59 percent over limit 1 The Pierre NYC: $362.91, 71 percent over limit *City reimbursement rates vary by travel season. Priciest plane tickets: Green billed taxpayers for four flights that cost more than $1,000. The biggest bill: $1,634.10 for a roundtrip ticket from Houston to New York's LaGuardia Airport in March 2012 High priced hotels Houston City Controller Ron Green repeatedly stayed at pricey hotels where nightly room rates exceeded maximums set by the city travel policy. 1 W NYC in Times Square: $426.93, 59 percent over limit 1 The Pierre NYC: $387.91, 93 percent over limit 1 W NYC: $372.45, 92 percent over 1 Milennium Hilton NYC: $381.03, 80 percent over *City reimbursement rates vary by travel season.

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Green earned frequent travel points as a hotel club member for his stays at lodgings affiliated with the exclusive W chain - visiting its waterfront Lake Michigan location in Chicago and twice frequenting the New York W in Times Square, where its 509 guest rooms offer glittering skyline views.

Conferences abound

Beyond his bond travel, Green has participated in a plethora of conferences nationwide - including a 30-minute speaking engagement at a public finance summit for which Green received a complimentary three-night stay from a city consultant at a 1,200-acre Napa Valley resort with two golf courses and 10 pools. Green also attended a vineyard luncheon at the invitation of the event organizer, a firm that frequently does bond-related business with the city of Houston, records show.

Green and other city officials are subject to a Houston ordinance that prohibits use of the "official's position ... for the private gain or advantage of the official or others, or use or attempt to use the official's position to secure special advantage for the official or others."

When asked about the trips, Green's spokesman Roger Widmeyer said Green did nothing wrong, saying the Chronicle's questioning of expenses bordered on "insulting." Widmeyer said Green's hands-on participation in travel and meetings involving bond deals pays off in savings and costs little.

"As a department director, elected official and CFO, Ronald Green has elected not to be a ceremonial controller. As a result, this office has been the most productive in decades," said Widmeyer, who emphasized Green's role in overseeing the city's $14 billion debt portfolio and its $2.5 billion in investments.

Green minimizes expenses by staying at hotels booked by city financial consultants who sometimes passed on their corporate discounted room rates and organized working lunches and dinners for the controller and other staff, Widmeyer said.

"Most importantly the municipal bond refinancing that has taken place during Controller Green's tenure in this office amounts to more than $200 million saved over the next nine years without extending the term of the debt. That has been the objective of bond travels," Widmeyer said.

On frequent bond-related trips to Manhattan and Chicago, Green has been accompanied by an entourage of up to six other employees from various departments. Records show other city staff stayed in the same expensive hotels and sometimes took flights that cost more than $1,000.

Travel policies

In contrast, Harris County officials banned bond pricing trips for employees as unnecessary in 2010. They use teleconferencing technology to monitor the process without leaving Houston.

"We live in a world where you don't need to go up there," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. "There's no benefit to the county, and if you're using tax dollars to do it, it's a waste."

Harris County changed its bond travel policies after an audit by the county attorney's office revealed some employees had enjoyed expensive meals, sporting events and limo rides in the company of consultants during bond-related trips, mostly to New York. Consultants later refunded hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of that audit.

Robert Brooks, a financial management professor and investment expert at the University of Alabama, said it's usually unnecessary for elected officials to accompany their paid expert advisers.

"City officials should rely on fiduciary-based financial advisers who are often the lead bond underwriter. It is fairly easy to get a good postmortem of the deal based on market conditions at the time," he said. "Travel is of limited value as the city officials typically have no idea how the bonds are actually sold. Even if they are present, they typically would not know a good or bad deal, even if it was right in front of them."

Travel expenses and gifts related to municipal bond trades nationwide have recently been reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In June 2011, First Southwest, one of the city's underwriters, advised Green and city officials of "an increased level of scrutiny of these trips by regulatory authorities and local media."

Green's spokesman insisted the controller accepts no gifts from city contractors.

Beyond the controller's expenses, his staff filed another $28,000 in travel bills for a dozen bond-related trips since 2010. Sometimes, they filled out waivers to justify hotel bills that exceeded spending limits in the city's travel policy, records show. However, some waivers were incomplete or missing from files provided to the Chronicle.

Furthermore, controller staffers said they could not guarantee that the more than 1,200 pages of travel records provided to the newspaper were complete since the office relies on an outdated paper process for filing and reviewing travel expenses instead of tracking them electronically.

Houston's three previous elected controllers, including Mayor Annise Parker, controller from 2003 to 2009, rarely traveled for bond business.

Through a spokesman, Parker confirmed she did not go along on any bond-pricing trips at all in her last two years as city controller because she had "staff with bond expertise and believed they could handle it." Even as mayor, Parker has traveled less often than Green - taking 17 trips at city expense from 2010-2012, compared with 27 for Green.

Business background

In an email, Widmeyer wrote, "While previous controllers have delegated a lot of responsibility and assumed more of a ceremonial role - especially in debt issuance - the current controller has not delegated but has been active, 'hands on' and committed to the process."

He argued few previous elected controllers had any "finance related education." Parker has an anthropology degree; Green has a master of business administration and a law degree, he noted.

Parker does have a business background with 20 years experience in the oil and gas industry and co-owned a bookstore for 10 years before serving as elected controller. Green is an attorney who practiced a mixture of criminal and civil law and has a history of personal financial woes, including massive federal tax debts and nearly losing his home to foreclosure.

Houston City Attorney David Feldman said he plans to review contracts and discuss policy issues raised by the newspaper with the city finance director, though he said he'd never previously reviewed the city's bond-related travel.

"Nothing's happened in the two-and-a-half years since I've been city attorney that's caused me to look at the matter."