State Workers Traveling the World
In the weeks after Governor Doyle’s administration ordered state employees to curb unnecessary travel, those same workers charged the state more than $900,000 for hundreds of trips around the world.
Records obtained by The Associated Press show that Wisconsin state employees visited at least 30 states and the District of Columbia and eight foreign countries in more than 300 trips taken just the first three months of the year.
The amount spent on travel and the number of places visited actually is much greater than the reports show since the University of Wisconsin System submitted an incomplete report.
The system accounted for nearly 90 percent of the out-of-state travel last fiscal year.
Oh come on. There is no budget crisis in Wisconsin. You are swimming in cash, so what’s the big deal? Why are you picking on your on those picking on those poor state employees? Sarcasm intended.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 0015 hrsDon’t blame me...I voted for Mark Green (Walker’s stand-in).
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 0745 hrsAccording to your link there were 300 trips in 3 months not counting the University. Wisconsin has about 40,000 employees, not counting the University.
In your apoplexy you neglected to comment on the necessity of a single one of these trips. If you want government run like a business then you know that a level of travel is necessary.
To your outrage I say, “Piffle.”
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1024 hrsC’mon grumps, you’re not looking for consistency in argument here are you?
It’s all one track, their guy bad, our guy good, even when their guy does what we say we want and our guy doesn’t.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1037 hrsSo Grumps and Lefty, you could make the case that SOME of these trips were necessary.
Some but not ALL.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1043 hrsOr maybe some of them were unnecessary, but not ALL
I’m sorry to be so sarcastic. But when I hear about government needing to be run like a business, and then I read criticism here;
http://www.bootsandsabers.com/index.php/weblog/permalin k/stay_home_doyle/
...of the Governor going to Ireland and the UK, my eyes roll a little.
I would think that folks who frequent this blog would be excited about our Governor meeting with the leaders of two companies (Kerry Group and SAB Miller) that combined employ somewhere around 1,500 people in Wisconsin.
I would think that discussions on stem cells with UK officials would be lauded, seeing as the US National Stem Cell Bank is in Madison and the World Stem Cell Bank is in the UK.
I would think that meetings to discuss the Warwick Manufacturing Group’s partnerships with Wisconsin businesses like GE Healthcare would be viewed as a positive.
This post is just more of the same…
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1135 hrsThere is no indication of how many of those trips were actually taken, and how many were non-refundable airfares for trips that were canceled. Typically when travel is universally flushed a lot of money is lost in non-refundable expenses. Which can be ridiculous, but in a very different way.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1223 hrsI was trying to find a little “background” on this too - I did find that the order was issued 1/24/08, effective immediately, and leaves it to the agency heads to decide if the travel was “necessary” or not, and to pursue “technological” alternatives (i.e, teleconferencing) if possible.
So, the report covers the time frame ended 3/31/08 (9 weeks of implementation). Now I don’t know if these trips were necessary in the first place, but as noted above, certain expenses might have already been incurred, as well as committments made to attend (i.e., making a presentation at a conference.). I’m sure that if money was already invested, for better or not, the travel then became “necessary” in the mind of the agency head.
The article kind of seems like a fluff piece - grabs attention but has no substance. Personally, I would like to see how this is shakes out after a few more reporting quarters, before drawing any ridiculous conclusions.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1242 hrsmht
A good point, but didn’t Diamond Jim say he was going to start cutting expenses 5+ years ago...or was that just another one of his many fabrications?
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1452 hrsThe source (it took me awhile to find it at the state site & I don’t have time to try to find it right now) was a Memo about cost saving measures - unfortunately it is in PDF format & I couldn’t copy & paste the item.
It really didn’t seem to have much “teeth” - again, the determination of “necessary” is up to the agency head & the other “wiggle” was the part about “technological” alternatives. A real directive would have been a moratorium on all travel, unless approved at a higher level.
What will be interesting is if the state employes “buy in” to the problem and change their habits - I guess my point was that it would take more than 9 weeks to see what impact, if any, there will be.
If I find the link, I’ll make another follow-up
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1633 hrsA good point, but didn’t Diamond Jim say he was going to start cutting expenses 5+ years ago…
So if that is the comparison...cutting whatever was spent by previous administrations (Thompson/McCallum)...does anyone have any idea how much those those guys spent?
Maybe the current level is a cut, maybe not.
Anyone have some actual numbers and not just conjecture.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 1650 hrsCorporations curtail travel when times are lean. Something the state of Wisconsin, and the regular dissenters here don’t seem to understand.
Posted by on May 08, 2008 at 2110 hrsGrumps, 300 people taking trips at a total cost of $900,000 = $3000 a trip. That seems pretty expensive to me.
Posted by on May 09, 2008 at 0005 hrsDan, it looks like we’re in agreement that the numbers are almost certainly misleading and include non-refundable expenses from canceled travel. The more interesting question is whether you realize that we’re in agreement.
Posted by on May 09, 2008 at 1244 hrs
Ol' Army
