KTVT - CBS, Channel 11, Dallas-Fort Worth reported last night that Pete Sessions (R-TX) is under investigation for accepting an allegedly improperly funded ski trip to Lake Placid for himself and his family. The trip is being investigated by a committee of the New York Assembly. The hearings began this week.
"They're looking at the relationship between congressmen and lobbyists... and possible misspending of both public and private funds.
"Lake Placid, New York was the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Last January it was also the site for the Congressional Winter Olympic Challenge. The trip included three days of snowshoeing, skiing, skating, and gondola rides for congressmen, their families and lobbyists... all paid for with public money.
"So who paid for their trip? Sessions' office says New York states Olympic Regional Development Authority picked up the airfare. The authority says that's not true, and that the trip was paid for by the United States Olympic Committee."
source: KTVT
KTVT text story on Sessions
The rub here is that USOC is a private entity. Accepting funds or travel from it would violate House rules. Other members of Congress were in attendance as well such as John Sweeney (R-NY) (multiple sleaze allegations and a DOJ probe). This event was reported as long ago as March, but the investigation generated new interest this week as the hearings began with the revelation of the USOC connection and the possible House ethics violation.
The New York Assembly has been more interested in the use of New York state taxpayer funds to entertain these characters and their families. The member of the New York assembly who is holding hearings is Paul Tonko.
The ostensible purpose of the trip was to evaluate whether Lake Placid needed additional federal funding for infrastructure, but KTVT's research showed that the vast majority of the time was spent on sports events and cocktail parties for members of congress and lobbyists, with nearly nil for "inspections." There are questions in Dallas as to why Sessions was accompanied by lobbyists on a trip to evaluate funding for physical improvements at a site.
Testimony this week has been that Sweeney drew up the guest list, including the lobbyists. That would also be a violation of House rules. Source: Albany Times-Union Albany Times-Union story
Sessions defeated the venerable Martin Frost. Sessions is in one of the new heavily Republican Texas districts crafted by Tom DeLay et al. , so there is little chance that an adverse outcome would unseat him , even though part of black and Hispanic South Oak Cliff in Dallas are in his district. They are there only to dilute black and Latino voting power (-- but this may change due to the recent Supreme Court decision on the redistricting plan which upheld the plan per se, but not its effects on minority voting rights in Henry Bonilla's 23rd Congressional District.) Any replacement would likely be as bad.
Sessions, a 16-year SBC exec who has millions in AT&T/SBC stock, has distinguished himself by being a complete whore for the telecom industry.
Regardless of whether anything comes of it, it's nice to see the news media -- particularly a local TV station, paying attention and not looking the other way for a change.