The state paid for some of the travel, organizations picked up the tab for other trips, and the government of Saudi Arabia funded the visit by one state representative there, at a reported cost of nearly $18,000.
Legislators say the travel is valuable for the state, allowing them to promote Alaska business and to attend seminars on oil and gas, taxation and other issues that make them better able to serve their constituents.
The year was unusually full of overseas trips, said Senate Minority Leader Con Bunde, an Anchorage Republican lawmaker who found it a bit much.
"Some just love to travel," Bunde said.
Senate President Gary Stevens, though, doesn't see the amount of travel by his members over the past year as out of line. "I don't think it is anything excessive from years past," the Republican from Kodiak said.
The farthest distance traveled was to South Africa, in what Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski described as a 35-hour plane trip. He and Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire, co-chairs of the Senate Resources Committee, went to Cape Town for a course on alternative energy fuels put on by the CWC Group, which conducts industry and government training on energy issues.
Wielechowski said he'll use what he learned about gas-to-liquids to promote it in Alaska, where he said the process has huge potential for jobs and energy. Senators are talking about bringing such training to Alaska.
"Here's the thing: These are the courses that the oil companies go to," Wielechowski said. "I think what we've learned during (the fights over oil taxes and gas pipeline issues) is that if we don't have institutional knowledge, if we aren't up to speed on what's going on in the oil industry we start out way behind. And when we're negotiating tax structures and major projects potentially worth billions of dollars for the state it's worthwhile to have a base of knowledge."
The state paid $8,820 in conference fees so the two legislators could take the course, as well as plane tickets to South Africa combining about $4,500. It was a three-day course in early December, with an additional day spent visiting a gas-to-liquids plant. Neither legislator has filed lodging and meal reimbursements, but Wielechowski said he stayed in South Africa for four nights at a $120-a-night hotel, far less than the hotel where the course was held.
McGuire, whose filings with the state show that she spent 12 days in South Africa, did not return messages.
'INTENSIVE CONFERENCE NOT A JUNKET'
Wielechowski and McGuire have their own travel budget as co-chairs of the Senate Resources Committee, unlike many other legislators who need permission from their caucus leaders before they can travel at state expense. One member of the state House, Fairbanks Republican Rep. Jay Ramras, wanted to join the two senators at the South Africa conference. But to do so he needed the approval of House Speaker Mike Chenault, who said he denied the request because of the state costs of travel and $4,410 conference fee.
"I just couldn't justify it," said Chenault, a Republican from Nikiski.
Wielechowski said Senate leaders suggested he attend the South Africa course after the announcement by Cook Inlet Region Inc. it was developing a massive energy project, known as "underground coal gasification" that would be the first of its kind in the United States. South Africa has commercial coal gasification, and CIRI officials had visited the country in planning their Alaska project.
The course also involved a different technology that South Africa leads in, gas-to-liquids, and Wielechowski said what he learned convinced him it had even greater immediate potential for Alaska. Possibilities include converting North Slope natural gas to synthetic crude to keep the trans-Alaska oil pipeline viable, he said, or a gas-to-liquids plant in Cook Inlet that could sell jet fuel to the military.
Such ideas have been looked at before, but Wielechowski said he and McGuire are working on legislation that could offer tax incentives to try and get private enterprise to pursue it. Wielechowski said he's even interested in looking at if the state might finance a gas-to-liquids effort itself for the jobs and the revenue that it would bring. The South Africa course was no junket, he said.
"It was nine o' clock in the morning to five o'clock at night. There was very little free time and it was very intensive," Wielechowski said.
OTHERS ATTEND VARIOUS ASIAN EVENTS
Anchorage Republican Rep. Craig Johnson also made a long international trip in 2009. Johnson reported in a gift disclosure that the government of Saudi Arabia paid $17,974 for his expenses on what his filings described as a "trade mission to Saudi Arabia with the goal of increasing relations between USA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
The six-day "study tour" of Saudi Arabia included a dozen legislators from around the country. Johnson's filing said the travel was from Oct. 27 to Nov. 6.
House Speaker Chenault, who himself went to China for a conference funded by the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, said the Saudi trip was organized by the National Conference of State Legislatures, which originally contacted Chenault about going. He told NCSL he couldn't make it because of his November China trip and suggested that the group ask the co-chairs of the House Resources Committee, including Johnson.
Other state legislators went to China in December on a state-funded trade mission. The 11-day trip included Sen. Linda Menard, Sen. Lyman Hoffman and Rep. Kurt Olson. The expenses from that trip, which Menard said involved visits with business leaders in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Macau, have not been tallied, according to her office.
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Lindsey Holmes went to Asia in June, visiting South Korea for a "bilateral political exchange designed to foster international democracy and understanding" in a trip funded by the National Strategy Institute and the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Sen. Bettye Davis, also an Anchorage Democrat, went to Paris in October for a women's health care conference. Davis' trip was paid for by the group Women In Government, which, like the other organizations for legislators that pay for conference travel, receives funding through donations from corporations, individuals and foundations.
$400-PER-NIGHT HOTEL FOR STEDMAN
Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, the co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, traveled to London at state cost in June for a course on oil and gas tax policy, taught by international oil consultant Pedro Van Meurs. Stedman wrote in his constituent newsletter that it was an intensive training course and "as we work towards developing a natural gas pipeline here in Alaska, it's critical that we institute a sound, competitive and modern tax regime. Analyzing the best practices of other oil producing regions helps us get there."
The total state cost of the trip was $14,756. That included the $6,000 conference fee, $5,041 in hotel and food expenses (including nine nights at the Royal Horseguard hotel for what turned out with the exchange rate to be $396.57 a night) and the "premium economy" tickets on British Airways, a class between coach and first.
"This is a highly technical and intensive, five-day training course. In order to be properly rested and to help mitigate the negative effects of a long international flight and a nine-hour time change, premium economy airfare is authorized," said the state travel authorization, which Stedman signed. "In addition to attending the training course, will be meeting with BP and legislative consultant David Wood."
Senate President Stevens said that with 90 percent of state general fund revenue coming from oil and gas development, Alaska legislators need to know the issues of international oil taxation. Stevens himself attended conferences in Berlin, Germany and St. Petersburg, Russia, over the past year that were paid for by Senate Presidents Forum.
Senate Minority Leader Bunde said it's up to voters to decide the merits of the trips.
"I'm sure (the legislators) have in their own minds all kinds of reasons to do this. My philosophy is on state-funded travel, is let your conscience be your guide" he said.
Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.
Overseas travel by Alaska legislators in 2009:
• Sen. Bert Stedman traveled to London in June for a course on oil and gas tax policy. Cost: $14,756 paid by the state.
• Rep. Lindsey Holmes traveled to Korea in June for a “bilateral political exchange designed to foster international democracy and understanding.” Cost: $4,125 paid by the National Strategy Institute and the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
• Sen. Gary Stevens traveled to Germany in July for a renewable energy forum. Cost: $3,990 paid by the Senate Presidents Forum, which also paid $878 in meals and ground transportation for his wife.
• Sen. Gary Stevens traveled to Russia in October for a forum on U.S./Russian relations. Cost: $5,293 paid by the Senate Presidents Forum.
• Sen. Bettye Davis traveled to France in October for a women’s health care conference. Cost: $2,982 paid for by the group Women In Government.
• Anchorage Rep. Craig Johnson traveled to Saudi Arabia in October for a study tour. Cost: $17,974 paid by the government of Saudi Arabia.
• Nikiski Rep. Mike Chenault traveled to China in November for a China-U.S. legislative forum. Cost: Not yet tallied, with expenses paid by the State Legislative Leaders Foundation.
• Sens. Bill Wielechowski and Lesil McGuire traveled to South Africa in early December for a course on alternative energy fuels. Cost: $13,395 paid by the state for transportation and conference fees. Lodging and meal expenses not yet tallied.
• Sen. Linda Menard, Sen. Lyman Hoffman and Rep. Kurt Olson traveled to China in December on an 11-day trade mission. Cost: Not yet tallied.
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