By Steve Peoples
Journal State House Bureau

Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts dipped into her own pocket to travel to Baltimore for the National Lieutenant Governors Association annual meeting last week.

She spent two days at the conference, where she led a health care reform panel featuring former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Declining to use money from her office budget or campaign account, she ponied up $545 for a hotel room and airfare for herself and chief of staff Jennifer Wood, according to information provided by her office.

State officials often use campaign funds for out-of-state travel, a practice allowed by the Rhode Island's campaign finance law if the travel is related to "gaining and holding office."

"Given the importance of the panel, and understanding the severe budgetary constraints facing the state, the lieutenant governor made the decision to personally incur the costs of travel," Roberts' spokesman Michael Tanaka told Political Scene. "The registration fee for the conference is paid by the office, as it would be if the conference were in Rhode Island."

Those registration fees totaled $500 for Roberts and another $100 for her staffer.

Roberts' decision to use personal funds came the same week the state Republican Party filed a complaint against Attorney General Patrick Lynch for alleged improper reporting of campaign-related travel expenses.
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