Sweeney and His Fantasy Camp

The TU Blog has an update on the Sweeney Tax Payer Funded Fantasy Camp Vacation with Lobbyists and Loved Ones.

Urban Elephants defends the trip as an "expenditure" and claims that looking into it is an "attack" on Sweeney.

John Sweeney (R NY) took his family, supporters, lobbyists and staffers on vacation paid for with public tax dollars ear-marked for CHARITY - people have every right to question this. The New York Power Authority has been asked...

to produce records about the event for a public hearing on the authority's practice of giving almost $1 million a year to charities of its executives' choice. NYPA's $25,000 contribution to ORDA came from that account.

That is our money, hence the headline, Skiing on the Public Dime.

An expenditure would be something that Sweeney paid for himself or that his campaign paid for. It is something intended to influence legislation, sort of like his other Ski Weekend with Lobbyists in Utah.

But this wasn't about legislation, as reported:

Sweeney and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, were the only members of Congress to attend this year. Other guests were in no position to influence federal funding for Lake Placid; they included lobbyists and Washington insiders like the brother and sister of former White House spokesman Andrew Card and Tom DeLay's campaign lawyer. Relatives of Sessions and Zeltmann also attended. (source for both quotes)

See our earlier post on Sweeney's Guest List for more on who they are and what they gave Sweeney.