Outward Bound

When is taxpayer-funded city travel good for the public?

Earlier this week, Mayor Javier Gonzales flew to Washington DC to take part in a conference of a national organization celebrating elected Latino officials like himself.

He justified the trip, which was paid for by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), by stating that the meetings "will translate to valuable lessons that we can all take back home and put to work for our communities."

City spokesman Matt Ross says Gonzales spent his time at the conference building his network with other officials, a network that will come in handy to solve "challenges we're all facing in all of our cities."

For Gonzales, it's the fifth such trip that he's taken as a public official since becoming mayor seven months ago. In less than a year, his travels as Santa Fe's figurehead have taken him as far as England. He's also ventured to areas closer to home in places like Dallas. All of them, his office argues, were made with the public in mind and at minimal cost to taxpayers.

"These are in-depth, policy-oriented conferences on very specific issues that are critical to Santa Fe," Ross says.

Still, together Gonzales' travels, including one he took with a former mayor's office planning and policy administrator, have added up to costing taxpayers more than $5,000. Not all of the trips were charged to the city, including the recent venture to the nation's capital. In cases like those, the organization sponsoring the conference usually pays for travel and lodging.

According to the city's ethics code, public officials, with some exceptions, cannot accept gifts from people or organizations that have "any prospect of direct or indirect" financial gain from them. Contractors with the city, for example, aren't allowed to pay for a getaway.

NALEO is not in that category.

FIRST CLASS

Since March, the mayor and city councilors have spent at least $11,621 on travel.

Here’s who went where and for how much:

Mayor Javier Gonzales spent $5,529 on three of his five trips. The bulk of that, $3,528.25, comes from a trip to Dallas for the US Conference of Mayors, which also included expenses for former city planning and policy administrator Noah Burke.

City Councilor Joseph Maestas spent $2,871 to attend a NALEO conference in San Diego. More than half of that went to his hotel stay.

City Councilor Signe Lindell spent $2,165 to attend the president’s LGBT Pride Month celebration and stayed in Washington DC for four nights with her partner.

City Councilor Peter Ives spent $1,054 for airfare, a traveling visa and a business visa to China for an UNESCO conference.

Councilors Patti Bushee, Carmichael Dominguez, Chris Rivera, Ron Trujillo and Bill Dimas did not travel for city purposes during this time period.

When taken on the public's dime, trips like these raise the question—at what point do they cross the line from serving the public to becoming taxpayer-funded junkets?

Gonzales isn't the only city politician to take national and international trips as a public official. SFR reviewed both his and all of the city councilors' travel records since March 10—the day the new mayor and city council were inaugurated.

City travel is not as predominant as it once was. In 2008, then-Convention and Visitor's Bureau Executive Director Keith Toler took four trips in one summer to places as diverse as Alaska and Mexico City. Randy Randall, who currently holds that job, has kept all his travels inside the state so far.

Ross says all the mayor's trips are decided on two factors—first, how the travel will benefit Gonzales' policy decisions as mayor, and second, what it's going to cost taxpayers. Because of this process, Gonzales says he's turned down at least three trips, including one offer to visit Israel on private funds.

Whether he's made the right choices depends on whom you ask.

"In the right context it is completely beneficial to Santa Fe," says Victoria Bruneni, general manager of the Inn at Santa Fe and also a member of the board of directors for the Chamber of Commerce. "If it is promoting Santa Fe and the travel is in a facility where there's press, then yeah, it helps."

Save for state government, Santa Fe's hospitality industry is the biggest jobs provider in the city. Because the tourism budget for New Mexico is lower than its neighboring states like Texas, Colorado and Arizona, Bruneni argues that local officials have to come up with ways to boost the industry beyond simply spending public money on taking out advertisements in glossy national magazines.

"We're really trying to get a return on tourists," she says, "and sometimes you have to think of different ways to do these things."

Different, yes. But lavish?

Councilor Joseph Maestas, another first-termer but no stranger to public service as a former mayor and city councilor in Española, recently attended a NALEO political conference in June in San Diego, charging the city $2,871. What stands out is his stay at the luxury Hotel del Coronado, which cost $1,571.57 for a three-night stay.

NALEO sent him to that hotel because the original conference hotel, which he booked at $229 a night when he registered for the conference, was full. Maestas says he left Santa Fe a day late to try to make up for the expensive stay. He also negotiated reducing the cost of the first night by half.

"The conference happened to be in one of the most affluent parts of San Diego," he says. "Had I preferred that they had it at the San Diego Convention Center? Absolutely."

This summer, freshman city Councilor Signe Lindell charged the city $2,165.96 to travel to President Obama's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month celebration in the nation's capital city. Lindell attended with her longtime partner.

"The idea that a lesbian couple would be invited by a black president to celebrate LGBT rights, in my mind, was a historic moment," she says.

But Lindell also says the trip was justified because she picked up things that could help Santa Fe stay at the forefront of LGBT rights, including learning about the Obama administration's effort to establish national landmarks in areas important to LGBT history.

"It's important to our community because we're an inclusive community," she says.

Councilor Peter Ives, who also serves as mayor pro tem, traveled to China during the summer for a conference sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Nine years ago, UNESCO designated Santa Fe as a "city of design, crafts and folk art," a recognition that Ives' predecessor Rebecca Wurzburger played a key role in making a reality.

Ives' China trip in many ways signifies that he's carrying the mantle that Wurzburger started. He charged the city $1,054 for the travel, according to receipts from the city, and UNESCO picked up the rest of the costs.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.