What a dumb idea.
“Hey, I know what we should do this weekend. Let’s take up the cable industry’s offer of a free trip to Las Vegas for an ‘educational’ experience!”
Brilliant.
With just a month left in the legislative session, an estimated 12 to 14 members of the Illinois House and Senate spent a couple of days at a trade show for the cable television industry.
The three-day, expenses-paid junket came as the cable industry is fighting an attempt by telephone giant AT&T to change state law in a high-stakes battle for the eyes and wallets of television viewers. […]
While in Las Vegas, the lawmakers stayed at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel which, according to its Web site, features rooms with flat-panel television screens, a steakhouse called Envy and “convenient monorail access to the Strip.â€
At the convention, the lawmakers got to see exhibitors ranging from HBO to Hustler TV, according to an overview of the conference.
The Tribune has a list of attendees…
At least 11 lawmakers accepted the invitation, according to two members who took the trip: Senators attending included Environment and Energy Chairman James Clayborne (D-Belleville), Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst), Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), Randall Hultgren (R-Winfield) and Carole Pankau (R-Itasca); House members included Reps. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro), Marlow Colvin (D-Chicago), William Davis (D-Homewood), Kenneth Dunkin (D-Chicago), Kurt Granberg (D-Carlyle) and Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago).
Davis, Mendoza and Cronin are not on the two main committees invited to the conference.
Some lawmakers said they are paying for part of their trip. Mendoza and Dunkin, for example, said they paid for their airfare.
So how is the trip logged? As a gift…
A House ethics officer signed off on the trip but told lawmakers they would have to report it as a gift on their financial disclosure forms because the sponsor would likely spend more than $500 on airfare, meals and lodging, said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
Bad idea all around.