Earlier this year, we posted a picture of local representatives meeting with Senator Chuck Grassley at his office in Washington DC. That sparked a few messages at the time, so we decided to take a closer look at what these trips cost and what is at stake. Admittedly, the information was slept on but I figured I would dig it out in light of more recent developments, including the large grants received for the Des Moines River bridge in Lehigh and our ‘first in the nation’ Workforce Pell Grant status.
We reached out to Webster County, The City of Fort Dodge, and Iowa Central Community college to request information about the travel, lodging, and other spending over $50.
The first respondent was Webster County. Webster County only sent one representative, so we didn’t do too much prying there. The cost of travel reported by Webster County seemed to be in line with what the other governmental agencies were reporting.
For The City of Fort Dodge and Iowa Central Community College, we did ask for full travel expenses, including receipts over $50. What we found was a normal Washington DC trip.
The lodging that was chosen was only a block or two from Capitol Hill at the Hyatt Regency. The nightly rate paid was good ‘middle of the road’ market rate for the area – far from the Waldorf Astoria.
All representatives flew Skywest / United Express out of Fort Dodge except for one individual. That individual volunteered that they flew out of Des Moines airport, as they were already in that area for personal reasons just prior to the business trip. Another individual did not fly directly back to Fort Dodge, as they had business in another location. All individuals appeared to fly economy.
As far as receipts, the only purchases picked up by taxpayers over $50 were meals where the check indicated multiple people were seated at the table.
All in all, there was nothing that stood out as extravagant and improper.
In addition to grants for bridges and Workforce Pell Grant, we looked into some of the federal government spending that comes into Webster County. The obvious ‘big hitters’ for Webster County would be the Social Security Administration at $185M and Department of Veterans Affairs at nearly $18M.
In the last fiscal year, the region received numerous federal grants supporting local Head Start programs, municipal housing, community health services, road construction projects, and airport hangar improvements.
One of the most unique things we found out – there is some Department of Defense spending that occurs in Webster County. That spending was described as components for both aircraft and non-aircraft.
