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S.E. Wood Speaker Naifeh flying high! The following story by investigative reporter
Phil Williams got about a 20-second spot on Nashville's NewsChannel
5 and made the back page of Section B in The Tennessean. But
just in case some of you missed it, I thought it worthwhile to
repeat it here. Of course, by now we all know of our state's
terrible financial condition. School funding is being cut. State
parks closed. The brand-new $27 million firefighters' training
facility is shut down for lack of operating funds. But the need for budget-cutting never reached
as far up as House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington. In keeping
with standard political procedure among those who preach, "Do
as I say, not as I do," last September House Speaker Naifeh
took advantage of an invitation to attend what was essentially
a lobbyist-sponsored banquet dinner and golf outing in Charleston,
SC. Commercial airfare to Charleston from Nashville
is about $200. But Speaker Naifeh commandeered the state's largest
executive aircraft, a Beechcraft turbo-prop King-Air, to fly
him and his lobbyist wife, Betty Anderson; his administrative
assistant, Reta Adams, and her husband; his chief of staff, Burney
Durham, and his wife; and state treasurer Steve Adams to this
gala function. When questioned, Speaker Naifeh said it was
necessary to take the state plane because he was hosting a golf
tournament in Savannah, TN, that morning (state business, of
course), and commercial plane connections wouldn't get him there
in time to attend the opening executive committee meeting that
afternoon. Sounds reasonable, but a little checking of the flight
log by reporter Williams showed that the King-Air didn't make
it, either. They barely got to Charleston in time for the evening's
banquet reception and the next day's golf tournament. Taxpayer transportation cost: $5,025. If attending
this conference was an essential legislative duty, then it would
have been appropriate for taxpayers to pick up the speaker's
airfare: $200. But for this little junket, the net luxury cost
to taxpayers was $4,825 - plus expenses, of course. When questioned, Speaker Naifeh said, "After
all, that plane costs taxpayers whether it is sitting on the
ground or in the air." And that logic, gentle readers, is from the man who is guiding our state's budget process and is leading the fight for a state income tax. · · · |