OK, so I’m traveling on business to Little Rock and I’m staying at the Peabody that is connected to the state convention center. When I stay here, I’m used to the various groups that have conferences for training, communications, general schmoozing, etc. But this one brought me up short. The National Lieutenant Governors Association? And they all get together for a conference?
What burning governmental issues do these guys have the power to address? I can envision the main seminar as “365 ways to tactfully inquire into the governors health that day”. I don’t know about the rest of the states, but my L.G. pretty much does ribbon cuttings for the latest swing set added to the park in Podunk. He might also chair the special committee to investigate the use of special committees. And wait for the governor to croak.
I checked the meeting schedule and there meetings that look legit, health care reform, etc. But these guys don’t have a vote or veto. Then I notice the schedules allow for a lot of “free time”. For things like golf, fly fishing, spa visits, etc.
So in reality, this is a boondogle for second bananas. I hope they don’t get too ripe in all the Arkansas sun.
A lame rant with no cursing, I know, but still couldn’t they save the travel money and find the expertise in their own states?
Conferences can be very productive. Meeting face-to-face, away from the office, often produces some useful ideas. I can accept a little “fun” being part of the conference. Some very valuable links can be made between people when they are meeting on a more casual basis, but more importantly, I think that when someone has been pulled away from home and family for work, they ought to be able to do some fun stuff.
That said, however, I expect public figures be very careful about what conferences they do go to, to make sure there are true gains to be had for the expense.
As budgets tighten everywhere, travel (at least by people associated with publicly-funded entities) is being scrutinized a little more closely. There was recently a scathing article in The Detroit paper about some county officials expenses attending a conference similar to the one you ran across. One guy forgot to buy his tickets until the last minute, so his fare was over $1000. They racked up over $1000 in cab fares, too, despite the fact that most meetings were adjacent to the hotel and they were a block from a Metro line. The story didn’t get the county’s money back, but it hopefully got them to watch their future gamboling around.
I just heard a local reporter is sniffing around my institution’s travel expenditures as we speak. That’s fine with me–my boss cut all travel for all of us, but there are some other offices which don’t seem to have the same commitment to cutting costs. I’d hate to have us embarrassed, but if it got them to knock off profligate travel spending, I can bear it.
Actually it sounds dangerous. Considering the world turmoil and all of these guys in one place. If the bad guys set off a bomb then it would disrupt the operation of …ah,…um ,oh never mind.
Ours has enought trouble just trying to keep a cheap gray suit from collapsing, let alone be of use to anybody. Mr. Unibrow, we call him. He should attend a conference on body hair abatement.
I live in one of the seven states that realizes that there is no need for such a foolish position as Lt Governor. There are few things to be proud about regarding my elected representatives, but this is one of them.
Actually, by constitutional quirk, the LG in Texas has more real power than the Gov. Not to say that this convention isn’t the silliest item of the day. The fact that each state has its own constitution and definition of LG’s roles or even their existence makes this even more meaningless.
Oh, and piss on their need to “do some fun stuff”. I need to have some fun myself, but I don’t hold up my state’s taxpayers to foot the bill. Tell them to buy an X-box, sit their asses in their office and quietly wait for “the call”. Useless dorks.
Flang dang, dude, the thing about going to a conference is that fun or free time or not, I am away from my family, away from my home, away from some of my normal choices of things to do. I don’t always look at it as “woot! Free travel! Free Vacation!” but “The office has me 24 hours a day right now.” So yeah, I think some fun is warranted.
However, I will say that I think that fun should be out of their/my own pocket. I feel I should get the “leave” from conference activities to do it, but I don’t expect the office to pay for me have fun.
Oh, we know all our politicians up here. People don’t hesitate to collar them in the line at the grocery store and chew on them for screwing up yet another piece of legislation. They get zero respect here because they haven’t earned it. Most people call them by their first names rather than by Sen. Soandso. Recently, the Uber Goober stopped in at a local Anchorage bar, thinking (I guess) that there might be some adulation coming his way. Instead, he was excoriated by a number of patrons and practically had to run for cover. He was one of our so-called U.S. Senators for 23 years, accomplished nothing, came home and ran successfully for governor. Shows how smart the idjit right wing is up here.
I know one Alaska state politician, Tom Brice (State Rep c. 1994, dunno if still in office).
Count us with another US jurisdiction that does not have an actual LG. We assign the deathwatch to our Sec’y. of State – itself a mostly-being-there post, he oversees the incorporations registry and the examining boards for trades, is in charge of sealing, numbering and publishing the statutes and regulations, and of protocol. So little heavy lift is involved that during the last 20 years, half the time the person has simultaneously held a day job as the Guv’s Chief of Staff or the head of the Planning Board.
And don’t knock the conferences. All of you from northeastern states, we’re looking forward to seeing your elected officials at the Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference here in PR in December. Bring money. Yours, the taxpayers’, the lobbyists’, whoever’s – just spend it here
Today’s seminar: How to get your boss to quit prematurely by having an ambassadorship dangled in front of his face only to be yanked away after he’s signed the resignation papers. Special Guest Speaker: Gov. Paul Cellucci, Massachusetts
Tomorrow’s seminar: Deputy Assistant Director of General Pro Tempore Sub-Chairmanship Oversight: New and creative ways to put your entire family on the goverment payroll.
