Haley Barbour's flights suggest that he continues to live the lifestyle of a highflying lobbyist. In tough times, Barbour flies high

The Mississippi state plane, a zippy Cessna Citation with a capacity of 12, is a model favored by corporate executives and the wealthy, and its principal passenger, Gov. Haley Barbour, might easily be mistaken for one of them when he arrives with a small entourage at airports in Washington, Las Vegas or New York, a car and driver waiting there at their disposal.

Barbour has traveled extensively on the jet, brushing off suggestions from Mississippi Democrats that he give it up in favor of a more modest propeller plane for his travel. The trips, according to a POLITICO review of the Cessna’s flight manifest since 2007, have mixed state business with both pleasure and national politics.


Some of Barbour’s travel may well have been worth it to Mississippi, a state that is heavily dependent on federal funds. But much of the time, he has used the plane to go to fundraisers for himself and other Republican candidates and committees, to football games and to at least one boxing match — travel that has a less obvious connection to what Barbour, a former top lobbyist in Washington, has cast as his lobbying on behalf of his state.

The flight logs obtained by POLITICO indicate that Mississippi has spent more than $500,000 over the past three years on Barbour's air travel. That total does not include security and other logistical costs associated with his trips. And through a quirk in Mississippi law, whenever the governor is out of state, Mississippi must pay the lieutenant governor a salary differential as acting governor.

Barbour has reimbursed the state for a handful of flights, but he has more often scheduled obscure official business to coincide with the business of politics, according to the manifest and logs, which were obtained from the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration under a Mississippi Public Records Act request by a Democrat who has worked in the state, who provided them to POLITICO.

Critics say the flights suggest that Barbour has continued to live the lifestyle of a highflying lobbyist as he's slashed his state's budget for government services across the board since taking office in 2004.

"All he has to do is meet with one congressman or senator for five minutes, and he can say that he's on official business," complained Mississippi Democratic state Rep. Johnny Stringer, who introduced the bill in the state Legislature to sell the Cessna.

Dan Turner, a spokesman for Barbour, defended the travels as vital to the state’s economy. "Gov. Barbour is an effective marketing tool in a state that really needs it," he said in an e-mail. "In other states, people don't necessarily appreciate the idea of a governor being so outgoing about promoting the state, whether it's in Congress or in boardrooms."

But at an austere moment, Barbour is anything but an austere figure. He may be the governor of the nation's poorest state, but he maintains a lifestyle that is the stuff of legend among his friends. Indeed, Barbour jokes that Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told him "when we were in government together, that his most difficult job was to defend my expense account."

And while the pricey plane travel is a frequent source of embarrassment for government executives, it has been only a minor issue in Mississippi. But it may prove more difficult to explain should Barbour seek the presidency on a national stage that, his staff acknowledges, sometimes lacks the Mississippi perspective.

Indeed, other governors eying a run for president have been careful to limit their use of state aircraft. As Alaska governor, Sarah Palin famously bragged about selling the Alaska state jet on eBay. Daniels himself has scaled back out-of-state travel for all Indiana state employees. And Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, active on the presidential circuit and vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, typically flies commercial, an aide said.

In Barbour’s travels, Mississippi state business is used to justify nearly every flight — even when it’s a clear stretch.

On the afternoon of March 7, 2010, for instance, Barbour's state-owned plane arrived in Las Vegas to pick up the governor. The official purpose of the taxpayer-funded trip on state forms was a "project meeting," but Barbour had other reasons to be in Las Vegas.

According to the Mississippi Business Journal, Barbour had invited donors to his state political action committee to drive a stock car around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and then to join him and casino mogul Steve Wynn for drinks — for a $5,000 contribution. The stop to pick up Barbour was not reimbursed to the state.

Turner said it coincided with a necessary refueling stop, but POLITICO's review of the records show the plane also stopped in Lubbock, Texas, before picking up Barbour in Las Vegas.

A month later, in April 2010, the state plane flew to New Orleans to pick the governor up from the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, a key stop on the early 2012 presidential circuit. Barbour also made time for a $10,000-a-plate GOP fundraiser at the New Orleans food palace Brennan’s before hopping the Cessna to a Canadian trade summit on the Gulf Coast.

"Canada is the No. 1 export destination for Mississippi trade," Turner said in an e-mail.

Other campaign events also coincided neatly with official business.

On June 21, 2009, the Cessna flew Barbour to Washington for meetings with General Dynamics and both Mississippi senators. But Barbour spent the next day at three campaign events in Virginia with Bob McDonnell, who was running for governor.

Barbour's staff originally told the Clarion-Ledger that he would reimburse the state for his trip and then reversed course, saying that he had been on official state business rather than political travel.

In December 2009, Barbour was in D.C. for a meeting with the congressional delegation using the state plane. But he also attended a fundraiser for Republican Brian Dubie, who was running for governor of Vermont.

In April 2010, Barbour's office filed a vague request for use of state aircraft that identified the purpose of the trip as "press conference w/Sec. Janet Napolitano." The press conference was a conference call, but Barbour was the special guest at a fundraiser for a Connecticut congressional candidate.

In June 2010, Barbour was flown home from D.C. on the state plane, after meeting with the Mississippi congressional delegation and officials about the Gulf oil spill. But he was also in D.C. for two fundraisers for his PAC at Kitchen and Gin & Tonic in Northwest D.C. According to The Hill, both events raised more than $75,000 for Barbour's Leadership committee.

He's also used the state plane for media appearances for which many state officials typically appear via satellite uplink.

Barbour flew to D.C. on the taxpayer dime for appearances on both “Meet the Press” and” Face the Nation” to talk about politics in November 2009 and January 2010. In September 2009, Barbour combined a media appearance with Fox News's D.C. bureau with a meeting with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) using the state plane.

Also among Barbour's state-paid trips are leisure jaunts, where he is — in his staff's view — acting as a sort of plenipotentiary ambassador from Mississippi. Barbour flew to the Cotton Bowl on the state's dime in 2009, as the Ole Miss Rebels beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 47-34. He attended the second round of the 2010 SEC basketball tournament, in which Ole Miss and Mississippi State were both playing.

In September 2008, Barbour flew on the state plane from Jackson to Gulfport to attend a Don King-promoted fight and a tribute to himself at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino. Turner e-mailed that the event "was part of a combined tribute to Gov. Barbour/promotional event televised to a national audience to remind the public that the Mississippi Gulf Coast was open for tourism after Hurricane Katrina."

To Mississippi's feeble "good government" groups, Barbour is crossing the line.

"What Barbour is doing is that he's playing the system. He's raising as much money as he can, whenever he can and using the state plane to do it," said Lynn Evans, president of the watchdog group Common Cause Mississippi.

But at home, even some of Barbour's political critics seem unfazed by his travels.

"His traveling doesn't bother me," said state Rep. George Flaggs, a Democrat who has been critical of the governor's recent budget proposals. "I know that the governor may or may not use the plane for political purposes. That's what politicians do."