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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Taxpayers Get Tab for Gov.'s Rome Trip
By Dan Boyd
Journal Capitol Bureau
SANTA FE — Gov. Bill Richardson's trip to Rome to be recognized for signing a repeal of New Mexico's death penalty cost taxpayers about $13,000.
The price tag for travel and two days' worth of events in Rome for the governor and two aides was $13,576.25, to be exact, according to the Governor's Office. The costs of the mid-April trip were provided to the Journal last week in response to requests for the information.
Richardson's office said the price tag covers airfare, ground transportation, lodging, meals and other miscellaneous costs for Richardson, his legislative liaison, Eric Witt, and a state security agent.
While in Rome, Richardson and other members of the delegation, including Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, were honored at a special lighting of the Roman Colosseum on April 15 for repealing New Mexico's death penalty.
Richardson shook hands with Pope Benedict XVI after the pope's weekly audience at Vatican City, and met with Italian tourism officials and members of the Italian press to tout New Mexico as a travel destination.
Other members of the New Mexico delegation, including Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored the bill repealing the death penalty and worked for 10 years to get it passed, paid their own expenses.
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the governor's trip to Rome will spark interest in New Mexico abroad.
"The trip that Governor Richardson and Archbishop Michael Sheehan took to Rome put New Mexico in the worldwide spotlight, garnering positive international attention that will pay huge dividends in terms of increased tourism to the state," Gallegos said in a statement e-mailed to the Journal.
Richardson was invited to Rome by the Community of Sant'Egidio, an international lay organization of the Roman Catholic Church that's active in the international anti-death penalty movement.
Richardson signed the bill abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on March 18, making New Mexico the 15th state without capital punishment.
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