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AP: Mo. governor flies while cutting others’ travel

July 1, 2010

By David Lieb

As part his plan to shrink government, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered state employees to travel less, and he sliced their per-mile payment.

How did Nixon break the news? By flying to Kansas City.

To drive home his point, Nixon repeated the announcement the next day by traveling to Columbia and St. Louis.

While cutting more than $1 billion from the budget, eliminating 2,500 state jobs and halving school busing aid, Nixon has racked up tens of thousands of miles on state airplanes — and billed the costs to the agencies he is cutting.

In fact, a month after announcing travel cuts for state employees, Nixon increased his own airplane travel.

An Associated Press analysis of state flight records, obtained under the state Sunshine Law, shows Nixon flew on state aircraft about once every three days during the past year. And he has continued the practice, first reported by the AP one year ago, of paying for flights out of the diminished budgets of state agencies instead of his own office. That has allowed Nixon to spend more on governor’s office staff and expenses.

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