Gov. Matt Bevin’s flights aboard state-owned aircraft in the first 45 months of his term had a total billed cost 80% larger than that of his predecessor, former Gov. Steve Beshear, through the same period of his first term.
The Courier Journal compared the two governors’ use of state aircraft by examining Kentucky State Police flight records dating back to 2008, obtained through open records requests.
The billed hourly rate for use of state aircraft was constant from Beshear’s tenure as governor to the present day, with the most commonly used plane by both governors — a Beechcraft King Air — costing $925 per hour.
The $678,225 price tag on Bevin’s flights through his first three years and nine months in office significantly outpaced Beshear’s $375,529 in the same time frame.
Other records from the governor’s office show that Bevin’s campaign, Republican political organizations and other private groups reimbursed the state for $318,457 of these flights as of Aug. 31, leaving taxpayers picking up the bill for $359,768 of the governor’s travel on state aircraft.
The Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet has not yet provided records requested by The Courier Journal documenting specific reimbursements for Beshear’s use of state aircraft.
However, state and federal campaign finance databases show that the former governor’s campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party reimbursed the state for at least $282,035 of the $889,498 total billed costs of Beshear’s flights during his eight years in office.
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Law allows ‘personal business’ flights
The use of state aircraft by the governor of Kentucky for official, political, and personal business has been fodder for criticism by political opponents and covered by Kentucky media since the tenure of former Gov. Julian Carroll in the late 1970s.
The tradition has continued with Bevin over the past month, as he refused to describe the purpose of many “unofficial” flights on state aircraft, arguing in September that as long as taxpayers are reimbursed for such personal trips, it is “none of their business.”
Last month, his office released what it described as a “comprehensive list” of the governor’s “official” travel using state aircraft, though it omitted many dates in which Bevin flew for undisclosed personal reasons or to attend campaign fundraisers.
Bevin and his staff have maintained — just as previous governors Ernie Fletcher and Beshear did — that his use of state aircraft for personal reasons is legal. A 1998 law specified that governors could use the aircraft for “personal business” as long as the state was reimbursed.
Beshear also declined to reveal the purpose of at least five personal flights that were reimbursed by the Kentucky Democratic Party when he ran for reelection in 2011. At the time, former Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Steve Robertson said he hoped Beshear “would realize that state property was not designed for personal and political purposes.”
Robertson also called for the governor to publish a detailed agenda of his political activities on a trip to New Orleans to watch the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville in the NCAA Final Four in 2012.
Despite such coverage, Bevin and his office have accused the media of hypocrisy in covering and questioning his use of state aircraft, telling WLEX-18 last month: “I wish you had asked these same questions of the previous governor because you would have found it was a very, very different situation.”
Attorney General Andy Beshear — Bevin’s Democratic opponent in his reelection bid for governor — has stated he would reveal the purpose of every trip using state aircraft if he is elected. In his father’s term, he was aboard several flights to attend University of Kentucky basketball games, as well as three flights to Washington, D.C.
State Rep. Angie Hatton, D-Whitesburg, announced last week that she will propose a bill in the next legislative session to provide more transparency on governors’ use of state aircraft. Her bill would require constitutional officers to submit to the Executive Ethics Commission a detailed description of their use of state resources such as aircraft for “nonpublic purposes” within 30 days, including their reasons for using the aircraft and the organizations that reimbursed those costs.
Bevin flew aboard state-owned aircraft on 244 days from the beginning of his term through August, at a total billed cost of at least $678,225. This total does not include the costs of flights on 13 days that were included on a list of the governor’s official travel because the state police did not provide those flights records detailing their costs, destinations and passengers.
Former Gov. Steve Beshear used state aircraft on 211 days through the first 45 months of his first term, which amounted to a billed cost of $375,529. The total billed costs of Beshear’s flights did not exceed those of Bevin’s until September 2014 — nine months into his seventh year in office — and he ended his two terms with a total of $889,498, The Courier Journal analysis found.
Just as the $925 an hour rate of the commonly used Beechcraft King Air plane has remained constant since 2008, helicopters used by both governors have been billed at $525 an hour. A state police Lear jet, first used by Beshear in June 2014, has remained at a rate of $1,900 an hour since that time.
Conservative groups fund Bevin travel
The Courier Journal also received records from Bevin’s office documenting specific checks that were used to reimburse the state for specific “unofficial flights” on state aircraft through August of this year — altogether totaling $318,457, or nearly 47% of the billed costs.
More than 57% of these reimbursements to the state were from the Republican Party of Kentucky or the Republican Governors Association, whose checks amounted to $103,236 and $78,631, respectively.
Bevin’s campaign committees reimbursed the state for $38,441, with more than 90% of that coming from his 2019 campaign. State parties in Michigan, Kansas and Wisconsin, where Bevin flew on state aircraft, also reimbursed Kentucky for $14,330, while Bevin personally reimbursed nearly $26,000 in flights.
Twelve other outside organizations have also reimbursed the state for Bevin’s flights, together totaling $57,840, mostly consisting of conservative political groups hosting events where Bevin spoke. These include:
- The conservative Heritage Foundation paid $8,602 for Bevin’s flight from Kansas City, Missouri, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2017, then another $4,370 for his flight to Washington, D.C., in October 2018. It is unclear what Bevin did in Colorado Springs, but he spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s annual “President’s Club” meeting in D.C. in 2018.
- Turning Point USA, a political group for young conservatives, paid $7,600 for Bevin’s flight to its conference in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 2018.
- The conservative Foundation for Government Accountability reimbursed the state $5,320 for his December 2018 flight to Florida to attend its conference.
- American Principles Project Foundation paid for the governor’s $3,145 trip to Washington, D.C., in December 2018.
- The Reason Foundation reimbursed the state $7,410 for Bevin’s flight to Palm Beach in March 2018, the same day the governor was scheduled to speak at the libertarian think tank’s annual weekend festivities for members of its “exclusive Torchbearer Society.”
- Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian advocacy group, reimbursed the state $3,990 for Bevin’s flight to Atlanta in August 2018.
- Family Research Council Action, a conservative Christian advocacy group, reimbursed the state $4,370 for Bevin’s flight to Washington, D.C., in September 2018, where he spoke at its annual Values Voter Summit.
- Jobs for America’s Graduates, a school-to-work transition program, reimbursed the state $4,560 for Bevin’s flight to Washington, D.C., in November 2018.
- Dynasty Financial Partners, a New York-based wealth management firm, paid for $3,422 of Bevin’s flight to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in October 2018.
- Liberty University reimbursed the state $3,700 for the governor’s March 1 flight in 2019 to Lynchburg, Virginia, where Liberty is located, and Washington, D.C., where Bevin spoke at the annual conference of CPAC, a conservative political group.
While the state Finance Cabinet has not yet provided specific reimbursement checks for Beshear’s flights over his two terms, campaign finance databases show the former governor’s campaign reimbursed the state $37,486, while the Kentucky Democratic Party reimbursed the state $244,548. More than 67% of the state party’s reimbursements were paid in Beshear’s second term.
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Written by Joe Sonka. Cross-posted from the
Courier-Journal via the Kentucky Press News Service.