Documents: Kansas Officials’ Travel Mixes Family, Politics
WICHITA, Kan.
Kansas taxpayers have been picking up the tab for state officials and legislators to fly in the state-owned executive aircraft to attend out-of-state sports events and take trips with family and friends, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Government officials appear to have no qualms about their own travel in the state’s nine-passenger Raytheon King Air 350, despite Kansas’ budget crunch that’s led the governor to criticize schools for spending too much and lawmakers in the GOP-majority Statehouse to accuse poor people of spending welfare money on cruises.
Using open records requests to obtain daily flight logs, emails, schedules and other materials to piece together the plane’s usage from Jan. 1, 2015, to March 24 of this year, the AP found state officials often mixed political, religious and family interests with state business on government excursions.
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