According to The Washington Post, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has reimbursed Virginia nearly $40,000 to cover the cost of personal trips he has taken on state-owned planes since taking office. Currently, McAuliffe’s approach is not required by any written policy, though several of his predecessors — Republicans and Democrats — have established the practice of reimbursing the state for personal trips.
Politicians, especially those who have access to perks like state-owned planes, often walk a difficult line between private and public use of their state-given resources. According to Stephen Carter, a spokesperson for McAuliffe’s political action committee, McAuliffe does not use state-owned planes for political travel, instead using commercial or charter planes for such events. But without a written policy in place, if McAuliffe wanted to use state planes to travel to political events, he likely could.
It is commendable that McAuliffe and his predecessors have not taken advantage of the resources given them for personal or political gain; this is exactly the type of behavior we should expect from our elected officials. In fact, McAuliffe has gone a step further than his predecessors by reimbursing state police out of pocket for security costs related to personal travel. He is the first governor to do so.
As commendable as such actions may be, it is troubling that we do not yet have a policy in place to monitor such spending. After the controversial scandal involving former Gov. Bob McDonnell, who currently faces jail time for a guilty conviction on 11 counts of corruption after accepting $177,000 in gifts and loans, Virginia legislators have been tasked with discovering ways to implement stronger and more effective ethics policies. The catch here is, of course, that they are effectively legislating themselves, which is probably why Virginia has had remarkably bad ethics laws historically, ranking 47th among 50 states on the State Integrity Investigation’s “Corruption Risk Report Card.”
Fortunately, the state’s existing ethics commission serves as the appropriate government agency to develop relevant guidelines for politicians’ spending habits. But, with the continued focus on McDonnell’s indiscretion, it is important for the commission to be holistic in its approach to questions of financial ethics: establishing rules for spending as minute as personal security offered by the state will create a better framework for future governors rather than relying on precedent. A written policy is the best way to ensure Virginia taxpayers are not funding politicians’ personal expenses.
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