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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island's well-traveled attorney general was on the road again this week.
Patrick Lynch was in Las Vegas between Sunday and Wednesday at "the invitation of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA) International for ACA's 70th annual convention,'' according to spokesman Mike Healey.
Healey said Lynch joined Rebecca Kuehn, Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Division of Privacy and Identification Protection Unit, at a "working dinner'' with ACA's executive board, and then again at a panel discussion about the "Changing Government Role in the Economy."
Healey said it is an issue Lynch knows well, because his own consumer protection unit "has experienced a substantial rise in complaints involving debt-collection practices since the economy has stalled.''
Lynch's message, according to a press release issued by the organization: "AGs want to stand with industries to take on the few individuals who are a problem,'' but "it's important for industries as a whole to set a tone by regulating themselves and making a good faith effort to address consumer issues."
Healey said Lynch went to the conference in his capacity as an executive board member of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, a fundraising and policy group that supports Democratic candidates. DAGA paid his $536.20 airfare as well as two nights at the Wynn Las Vegas at $200.48 per night, including tax.
Two staff members accompanied him to Las Vegas: Chief of Staff John Palangio and Policy Director Jeff Guimond, who both took the trip on vacation time and paid their own way, Healey said.
Lynch, who has declared his interest in running for governor in 2010, is among state government's most frequent travelers, according to his campaign finance reports and state travel records.
Some of his trips - including an 11-day journey to Taiwan, at the expense of the Taiwan government - were taken in his former capacity as head of the National Association of Attorneys General. Others were fundraising expeditions, about which he has provided very little information, including the number of days he was gone from the office.
But Healey shed new light on one of those trips. He said Lynch went to an earlier credit and collection industry conference in California in April to urge the industry to "initiate registration of those involved in the debt collection field.''
He also explained why this March 31-April 1 overnight trip wasn't included in an earlier rundown of another 63 days of out of state travel, by Lynch, since Jan. 1, 2008 that was paid for by the state or outside organizations, such as the National Association of Attorneys General.
Healey said he was invited "because he was NAAG president at the time,'' but it wasn't an official NAAG trip. "Because he had a limited travel budget as NAAG president and because he knew he'd end up doing some political prospecting while he was in San Diego, he had his campaign pay for the airfare. Credit and Collection News paid for his one-night stay at the hotel. The airfare expenditure will be reflected and included in his next campaign finance report.''
Healey said Lynch "doesn't have any other state-paid trips planned.''
