Resolution to ban overseas travel by Georgia Senators introduced
ATLANTA - Georgia Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy has introduced a resolution in the Georgia Senate that will eliminate all overseas travel by state senators and travel of any kind by senators who are leaving office.
The resolution follows in the wake of the discovery by the FOX 5 I-Team and others that the former lieutenant governor and president pro temp went on an expensive two-nation European trip just weeks before leaving office.
The resolution was introduced late Tuesday; it spells out a new set of rules regarding travel after then Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and President Pro Tem Butch Miller led legislators on what many called a lavish taxpayer-funded junket.
Receipts show former Georgia leaders spent over $100K taxpayer dollars on trip
The FOX 5 I-Team obtained exclusive videos of a controversial European trip recently taken by the former Lt. Governor and Senate President Pro Tem along with state employees. But, since the legislature exempted itself from the Georgia Open Records Act, taxpayers can't find out exactly what the trip cost. When those officials left their offices two months later, Senior I-Team reporter Dale Russell looked into the receipts.
The FOX 5 I-Team was there at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when Duncan returned from an 8-day European trip to Germany and London. It was a trip paid for by Georgia taxpayers.
Duncan was joined by Miller and four other legislators.
$110,000 European delegation trip was "taxpayer funded vacation," report concludes
FOX 5 News at 6 p.m.aAn investigation by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Senate President Pro tem John Kennedy found a European trip lead by the outgoing lieutenant governor and president pro tem late last year should never have happened. The final report concluded the two country, multi day trip, amounted to a
The FOX 5 I-Team obtained exclusive video of the travel party on the trip that cost taxpayers a total of $110,000.
But Duncan and Miller were set to leave office within weeks of returning from the trip.
Following the initial new reports of the trip by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and the FOX 5 I-Team, current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and President Pro Tem John Kennedy investigated and proclaimed in the future, Senate funds should "not be spent on overseas travel by senators or staff."
Senate Investigation says recent European trip was a 'taxpayer-funded vacation'
An investigative report from Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy concluded that a recent European trip led by the outgoing Lt. governor and Senate president pro tem amounted to a taxpayer-funded vacation.
Now, Sen. Kennedy is making it official. Kennedy has introduced a resolution that would prohibit any senators or the lieutenant governor from traveling outside the United States on the taxpayer’s dime.
And, it would block any senators or the lieutenant governor from traveling outside of Georgia at taxpayers’ expense during their final six months in office, if they are not a candidate for another term or new statewide office.
The bill will now be debated in a Senate committee.