Wisconsin lawmakers got $164,000 in travel and perks last year from outside groups

MADISON – Business groups, ideological organizations and others paid more than $164,000 last year for Wisconsin legislators to travel and speak — in some cases overseas.

Fifty legislators last year had their meals, lodging, airfare and other travel costs covered by outside groups, or they received payments for speaking or other services, according to an analysis of financial disclosure by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

Members of both parties enjoyed the perks and four of them received more than $10,000 in benefits, including one — Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) — who had nearly $24,000 of his expenses covered.

"Special interests are paying for it and everybody thinks that has an influence on what legislators are thinking and doing — because you're getting a free trip," said Jay Heck, director of the government watchdog group Common Cause in Wisconsin. "Of course you're going to be affected when you get a free trip ... That's just human nature."

August took trips to China, Australia and around the United States. Some were covered by ideological groups, but much of it was funded by bipartisan organizations.

“If I saw a problem with it, I wouldn’t do it," said August, who presides over the Assembly as speaker pro tempore.

"It’s a way for us to grow as legislators and network with people from other states. It’s not taxpayer-funded travel. If it was, I certainly wouldn’t be doing it.”

RELATED: Speaker Robin Vos took free trip to London with lobbyists and leaders from other states

RELATED: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos received $57,000 in travel and other perks since 2014

Travel for lawmakers has drawn attention after former Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger resigned last month amid an FBI investigation into his travel. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) joined Rosenberger on some of those trips; Vos has said he has not been contacted by the FBI and is confident he has followed all ethics laws.

Wisconsin law allows legislators to receive free travel if it is for official business or educational purposes. Legislators from both parties have long taken advantage of that opportunity.

Most of the money spent for Wisconsin lawmakers last year benefited 20 of the state’s 130 sitting legislators, including several in leadership roles. Three Assembly leaders — August, Vos and Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) — each reported more than $9,000 in payments.

After August and Vos, two Democrats received the most benefit — Sen. Chris Larson of Milwaukee and Rep. Mark Spreitzer of Beloit.

Larson disclosed nearly $12,000 in travel stemming from three conferences and two meetings for cultural exchange. A trip to Switzerland funded by the American Swiss Foundation cost nearly $6,000 and a visit to Croatia and Hungary bankrolled by the American Council of Young Political Leaders cost more than $3,000.

Larson said he wasn't lobbied on the trips and he vetted the groups to make sure they weren't going to try to influence him to take positions he opposed.

He said the public should be skeptical of trips paid by others, but he decided to take them because he thought it would help improve foreign relations at a time when the world is greeting America suspiciously.

“They’re not sending us on these trips just for fun," Larson said of groups that fund trips for lawmakers. "There’s definitely something they want out of us.”

Lawmakers must annually disclose how much in benefits they received and who paid for them, but they do not have to provide details such as where they went or what topics were covered. Larson said he believed lawmakers should be required to tell the public more about what they're doing on these trips.

“The disclosure forms are pretty much a joke," he said.

Spreitzer had more than $10,000 in expenses covered for cities around the U.S. That included travel funded by the nonpartisan State Legislative Leaders Foundation for about $3,800, the liberal Young Elected Officials Network for about $2,400 and an arm of the nonpartisan Council of State Governments for about $2,000.

Spreizter said conferences he attended in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Charlottesville, Va., and Washington, D.C., helped him learn leadership skills. He said trips like the ones he took are different than ones to exotic locations covered by lobbyists.

"These conferences are easier to monitor than exclusive trips," he said.

RELATED: Brad Schimel planned to keep secret records of trip, his emails show

About half of the total payments for legislators came from three organizations: the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, the nonpartisan State Legislative Leaders Foundation and the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

Craig Holman, who helped draft a federal law a decade ago that restricted when outsiders could cover travel expenses for members of Congress, said he was not concerned about travel paid by nonpartisan organizations like the National Conference of State Legislatures. But he said he sees serious problems with having travel funded by ideological and political entities.

"(Lawmakers) are being influenced by accepting gifts of travel and that's what these gifts are designed to do," said Holman, who is now the government affairs lobbyist for the watchdog group Public Citizen.

He said Wisconsin lawmakers should be required to report their travel promptly, rather than once a year, and should have to make their itineraries available to the public online. He also called for stronger laws on who can fund travel.

"I strongly question relying just on the standard that the trip has to be educational," he said. "Anyone can define what educational is."

Heck of Common Cause said the public would be better off if taxpayers paid for lawmakers' travel. That way there would be less travel overall and voters wouldn't have to worry about anyone unduly influencing their leaders.

"They violate the spirit of the law (with their travel) and I don't think they fool anybody," Heck said.

ALEC is best known for connecting conservatives and corporations to write model legislation that can be introduced anywhere. ALEC paid about $27,000 last year for a dozen GOP legislators from Wisconsin, according to their disclosures.

A smaller group, the State Innovation Exchange, similarly helps liberal lawmakers. Seven Democrats, including Spreitzer, disclosed travel payments made by the group last year totaling about $6,700.

Gov. Scott Walker disclosed no travel funded by outside groups last year.

State Schools Superintendent Tony Evers had $5,500 in expenses covered by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Evers is one of nine Democrats seeking to challenge Walker. Two lawmakers — Kathleen Vinehout of Alma and Dana Wachs of Eau Claire — are also in that field; neither of them had travel paid by outside groups last year.

Attorney General Brad Schimel disclosed that more than $13,000 of his expenses were covered, mostly stemming from five trips funded by the Conference of Western Attorneys General.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization accused of being a hate group, also paid $4,100 for Schimel to attend its conference last year in southern California.

State Senate Financial Disclosures

State Assembly Financial Disclosures