NATION AND WORLD
University Daily Kansan, February 15, 1984
Page 12
Group urges full accounting of congressional travel costs
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the eighth in a 10-part series of reported investigating waste in government spending.
By GREGORY GORDON United Press International
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress should stop hiding their travel costs in the budgets of federal agencies, a practice that conceals the true price tag from the public and lets the Pentagon curry favor with lavish treatment, a watchdog group said Tuesday.
The Better Government Association, which urged full disclosure of the costs of each foreign and domestic trip, also called for restrictions to prevent wasteful use of military aircraft, chauffeur-driven cars and embassy personnel by members of Congress traveling abroad.
"The problem is that congressmen are leaving their common sense at the water's edge when they leave the office." Bruce Brunner, BGA executive director.
Brunner and Peter Manikas, BGA legislative counsel, said that they would send letters to Senate Republican Leader Howard Baker and House Speaker Thomas O'Neill proposing sweeping reforms as a result of a
four-month investigation, conducted by BGA and United Press International, into congressional travel abuses.
They said that they also would write Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger to urge curbs on wasteful use of Air Force planes by congressional actions, sometimes composed mainly of support personnel and spouses.
"That whole system of the 89th Airwing ought to be reviewed," Mankas said of the Air Force's 734th fighter for use by top government officials.
He also said the military, which paid more than $13.4 million of Congress' travel costs in fiscal 1983, should not be financing the trips of legislators "who have the responsibility for reviewing its budget.
"We do not want to do anything to discourage congressional travel," Manikas said. "We simply want a more honest system of accounting."
Reps. Tom Corcoran, R-III., and Ron Paul, R-Texas, have proposed legislation to require justification for overseas travel. A bill proposed by Corcoran, who says that too many trips have been pleasure-oriented, has been trapped in the House Rules Committee.
"an outrage and an insult to American taxpayers," wants to require approval of three-quarters of the House for each foreign trip.
The UPI-BGA inquiry, based on analysis of thousands of Pentagon and State Department vouchers, found that in fiscal 1983, $15.7 million from public disclosure statements in State Department and Pentagon files.
Paul, who called much of the travel
Foreign travel is financed in part from the limitless appropriation. In fiscal 1983, foreign travel cost at least $21.6 million.
Numerous members of Congress rented chauffeur-driven cars overseas, including a Jaguar Daimler used by Sen. John Tower, R-Texas. Some enjoyed posh dining. Rep. James Howard, D-N.J., arranged a $1,900 dinner in Dublin. And several House members made stops at paradise islands without reporting them.
The Pentagon spent more than $13.4 million on congressional travel, including at least 96 overseas flights aboard military aircraft. More than $1 million in "black bag" money was doled out by military escorts on meals, lodging and other gratuities for members of Congress already provided daily expense money for some of the same items.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Swedish naval patrol boats yesterday bombed waters near Karlsronda Naval Base, hoping to force to the surface an intruder submarine that they thought was hiding in the area.
Sweden hunting for intruder sub
By United Press International
"It is not impossible for a conventional submarine to operate in such shallow waters without being seen," a navy official said. He said there were strong indications that a target was in the area, but he would give no details.
A defense staff communique said that
about 10 depth charges were dropped. The navy suspects that the submarine is navigating south of Goddinn lighthouse in the Karikrona harbor area along the southern Swedish archipelago.
Late last night, about 10 more depth charges were fired from two patrol boats in the same area, where the water is only 39 to 45 feet deen.
The barrage of charges was the heaviest use of depth charges ever employed in a submarine hunt in Swedish waters.
No results were reported after either action.
Naval ships, helicopters and coastal artillery troops have been pursuing the submarine since Friday. The hunt is the latest in a series of cat-and-mouse games between the Swedes and suspected intruder submarines.
Yesterday's report implied that the submarine was snooping around the Karikrona base, a few miles northwest of Hawaii. The submarine ran airborne in October 1981.
L. Col. Evert Dahlen said the navy had tried to carpet-bomb — or set off simultaneous explosions — in hopes of forcing the submarine to the surface.
Brother of Aquino calls for boycott
By United Press International
MANILA, Philippines — The brother of slain opponent leader Benigno Aquino called yesterday for a boycott of national elections that U.S. officials have said are essential for democracy in the Philippines.
But the call by Agapito "Butz" Aquino failed to win immediate support and the main political parties opposing the president of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Aquino's appeal for a boycott of the scheduled May 14 elections was made at a Valentine's Day rally of about 5,000 protesters in Manila.
going to boycott, Happy Boycott," Aquino yellied at the stroke of midnight as fireworks exploded and whistles and horns were sounded in support.
"Marcos, Hitler, dictator, dog," the crowd chanted back.
"I'm calling on my countrymen to take part in a militant, active, vigorous boycott in May. We will have no elections," Aquino said.
Yesterday signaled the start of a three-month countdown to the May elections, which U.S. officials have said could mark a "watershed" in the return to democracy for the Philippines.
"Five, four, three, two, one. We're
parties were notably absent from Aquino's rally.
A coalition of 12 opposition parties, the United Nationalist Democratic Organization, has warned that a boycott could trigger "violence and intimidation" against balloters was "of the highest importance to the restoration of democracy."
Aquino, who has emerged since his brother's Aug. 21 assassination as a vocal critic of the government, said he was certain the majority of the opposition would eventually join the boycott.
Many of the traditional opposition
The opposition parties had given Marcos until midnight yesterday to meet six demands.
President was deposed Panamanian groups say
By United Press International
PANAMA CITY, Panama — Opposition parties demanded a government explanation yesterday for the sudden resignation of Panama's president, a move they said was actually a bloodless coup.
Jorge Illueca, a U.S.-educated lawyer who had been vice president, was sworn in Monday immediately after President Ricardo de la Espriella went without explanation. Illueca also is president of the U.N. General Assembly.
The resignation was the second time in less than two years that a Panamanian president quit unexpectedly. The resignation came at a time of
increasing political tension due to the May 6 presidential elections, the first in
Carlos Ivan Zuniga, presidential candidate for an opposition group, the moderate Popular Action Party, called thecoup's events "a constitutional coup."
The Christian Democratic Party said, "this new type of coup d'etat" was the result of conflicts within the official parties.
Two Cabinet ministers, Carlos Hoffman, of the Commerce Ministry, and Carlos Clement, of the Public Works Department, on Monday, and newspaper reports said that Finance Minister Gabriel Castro would also resign.
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