maybe he rented an F-16. That would explain the cost (LOL)

My guess is that it includes his staff. He has three bodyguards, presumably some aides and secretaries, etc.

He's a sleazebag, but I can't imagine he's dumb enough to take kickbacks from FOX in that blatant of a way.

Is Tom Delay's signature really that girlie??

Oh my god, quick everybody, let's care about this for some reason!!!!

Actually, we *should* care about this sort of thing; our politicians are elected by US, and need to be doing work for US; this sort of over-extravagant travel is just yet another example of turning our politicians into money vaccuums.

I've been a staunch Republican supporter for years, but Tom Delay's antics have shown me just how corrupt the GOP has become.

If this is how the GOP restores integrity to the Congress, I don't think I want any.

As much as I may regret it later, I'm definitely voting Democrat in the 2006 election.

dtellier, why should I care how FOX News spends there money? I would care if it were my tax dollars you were talking about, but they are a private company and free to waste their money however they see fit. And as mentioned above, considering this fee likely covered a considerable "support staff" as well, I could see the whole thing adding up pretty quickly.

As unlikely as it is to happen, you should encourage this sort of thing in hopes that FOX News will bankrupt themselves out of business. :)

Correction: "there money" should read "their money"

Yeah.

Most expensive ticket is $500???? Obviously you don't fly first class (not that I do) but a same day or next day first class ticket would cost a few thousand. Multiply that by his staff and "incidentals" you still don't come up with 14K, just sayin $500 is not the price for a next day ticket.

A private jet rents out at about $3,000 to $5,000 an hour. DC to TX is about 3+ hours each way, so if that was a private jet, that's a great price. While maybe you can't fathom it, that's what it costs. I chalk this up in the yawn category. Who cares?

Correction: The most expensive ticket I found (granted it was through one of those online ticket search engines) was $500 each way. I know a State Rep isn't going to fly coach, but $14,000 seems like a lot for one day's travel.

If FoxNews wants to throw money away, that's fine. But if this is indicitive of how politicians typically travel, then we've got a problem.

Fox News, proprietor R Murdoch; positioning Rep/Bushist backers; associated with Fox Network (purveyors of the type of programming complained about on Fox News).
Note that if DeLay travelled with 4 security men, 3 secretaries, 2 interns, a lawyer, a personal assistant and a specialist driver then charged the not just the airfare but car hire costs (say 3 cars) then the cost would still be less than $14000.
So why the extra cost - surely it couldn't be a way of bulking up the man's defense fund, could it?

A round trip first class ticket from Houston to DC leaving tomorrow morning costs $1549.61. If you factor in 3 bodyguards and 3 support staff the plane tickets allow total $10847.27. $14,000 of private money for a politician to travel doesn't seem all that outrageous. It's easy to get to that figure. This is peanuts compared to some amounts spent of taxpayers' (my and yours) money. And trust me the Democrats are just as corrupt as the Republicans, the media just doesn't report on it as much.

I can't believe it isn't obvious why this is important. When DeLay decides to accept this much money, he is receiving an honorarium. In America, we generally like to pay people to represent us and only us. If we allow others to pay for things like this, eventually the representative represents them and not us. This is especially true when they are being paid 15K per diem. The public can't compete with Fox financially, so we should demand that elected officials not accept gifts that are so valuable. If they need to be flown out (Fox could fly out a camera crew) then they can fly out on the travel money the public provides. The travel fund should be used here because he is benefiting from being on TV.

Don't forget about tax write offs. If Fox News foots the bill up front it is possible it will be footed by the tax payer in full or in part as a political related donation, if not a business expense.

Bloggers and reporters bringing politician's business expenses to light will insure that politicians as well as media conglomerates book keepers will be honest. If you're linked to the whitehouse and the GOP, you're under public scrutiny.

How does everyone feel about Jay Leno charging $100,000 for a speaking engagement? Celebrities, be they businesspersons, comics, actors, or politicians are paid for appearances at private events. There is no difference between paying someone to come speak at a corporate event or to book a highly demanded guest to appear on a television show to boost ratings. What is different here is that Delay wasn't paid, but was merely reimbursed for travel expenses which are by no means exorbitant. If you want to get mad about spending, get mad at the idiots who pay $3,000 for a toilet seat in The Pentagon. While many people would think that $14,000 on travel expenses is excessive, it is by no stretch of the imagination uncommon among Democrats or Republicans. (Or any top ranking executive at a large company for that matter.) This seems like people are grasping at straws to try and find something. There me wrongdoing out there, in fact there probably is, but this isn't it.

"I've been a staunch Republican supporter for years, but Tom Delay's antics have shown me just how corrupt the GOP has become.

If this is how the GOP restores integrity to the Congress, I don't think I want any.

As much as I may regret it later, I'm definitely voting Democrat in the 2006 election."

Yeah, right. Where have heard that one before?

"If Fox News foots the bill up front it is possible it will be footed by the tax payer in full or in part as a political related donation, if not a business expense."

That's just silly. The money didn't evaporate, it went into the cost of travel, which is corporate income for other companies (airline, hotel, etc), which is taxed.

Hey.. if some company offered to pick up your tab.. are you gonna order cheap?

"How does everyone feel about Jay Leno charging $100,000 for a speaking engagement? Celebrities, be they businesspersons, comics, actors, or politicians are paid for appearances at private events. There is no difference between paying someone to come speak at a corporate event or to book a highly demanded guest to appear on a television show to boost ratings."

Except that entertainers aren't chosen by the people to set policy, and aren't supposed to have some modicum of propriety. If Delay doesn't understand why people would be unhappy with this, he is truly out of touch with the vast majority of Americans, who generally do not travel first class, with a posse, and stay at 5-star hotels. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that, at least in lip service, the Democrats have tried to instill some reforms to congressional honorariums, whereas most Republicans have firmly opposed them.

Hi All,

Do you ever stop and consider why you even bother to comment on these blogs at all? Some will be for whatever the issue is, some will be against, and some won't give a damn.

The same for every blog around the world.

Go outside. Talk to your neighbor. Educate your kids. Be a contribution, not an audience member.

Have a great life.

Sabdi

He never should have recieved this money. FOX should have paid for the transportation directly to the vendors. Did they really ask him to turn in his receipts for a reimbursement. NO ! Anyone who thinks this is something other than a "Fair and Balanced" news program paying Delay an extremely overpriced hourly rate to show up and boost their ratings is a person that believes WMD's are still in Iraq and we just need more time to find them.

When you have to fly to Washington at the last minute and you are expected to fly 1st class it can be very expensive. Not to mention if you are paying for additional passengers. $14k for a last minute round trip flight for a party of 5 to Washington is not that unreasonable. If you think it is then I am guessing you do not fly first class much.

"How does everyone feel about Jay Leno charging $100,000 for a speaking engagement? Celebrities, be they businesspersons, comics, actors, or politicians are paid for appearances at private events. There is no difference between paying someone to come speak at a corporate event or to book a highly demanded guest to appear on a television show to boost ratings."

No difference between Jay Leno and Tom Delay? When was Jay Leno able to change voting districts. Besides, Delay's lawyer argued that such a small sum as $300 could give the impression of impartiality.

"impression of impartiality". Strike that. Rewind. "impression of partisanship."

So lemme get this straight: Delay is blowing loot like a limosine liberal?

Oh, dear.

My guess is that it includes his staff. He has three bodyguards, presumably some aides and secretaries, etc.

He's a sleazebag, but I can't imagine he's dumb enough to take kickbacks from FOX in that blatant of a way.

Where does it say he used this money on his "posse?" If you go to the Political Money Line web site which has extensive records on political travel expenses paid by private parties, you'll often see comments like "travelled with spouse" and you don't see that on this form.

The injection of an unsourced "guess" into the discussion, that Delay's travelling with others, means the $14K is no big deal, is obfuscation, pure and simple.

This is a typical technique of the koolaid drinkers on the right when confronted with uncomfortable information. Y'all listen to Limbaugh, after a while you start sounding like him. Pull "facts" out of your butt; ok then.

Now all we need is someone to bring up Bill Clinton and how much he's paid to speak and who pays for his travel expenses.

So you're talking private aircraft, specially cleared for gov't VIPs, which charges by the hour. That doesn't include fuel (too variable), airport fees at both ends (you gotta pay big bucks for the privilege of landing and sticking around), food, or cleaning crews (unions in both cases).


Next: the motorcade. You're paying authorities in every locality you pass through overtime to have their police force escort the motorcade, closing off side roads and speeding the delegation through.

Of course you have security at the venue. Flowers By Irine and SS I'd guess, probably another three dozen people covering the building entrances, maintenance cores, stairwells, security office, and studio. Background checks on all the cameramen, technical directors, maintenance people, etc.

You have special meetings two weeks beforehand between Delays people and local FBI field offices, you have agents doing dry runs of the path the motorcade will take so when it comes to "the big day" they'll notice if something is out of place.