More reporting from Blue Hog Report on Lt. Gov. Mark Darr’s use of his taxpayer-paid office expense account:
State records show the state paid $258.75 for a bill Sept. 8, 2012 at Gaston’s White River Resort.
That same day, Darr posted the Twitter message above about a successful trout fishing outing that same day with his son, and state Rep. Kelley Linck. Photos are no longer available.
Perhaps Darr had official business at Gaston’s that day and his son rode along. I’ve sent a question to his office staff for an explanation. And again I asked if Darr intends to respond to the mass of evidence Blue Hog has compiled that suggest Darr double-billed travel expenses — at one time to both a state credit card and in unadjusted mileage reimbursements and, at other times, in charges to his campaign account as well as taxpayers in per-mile reimbursements..
Since this expenditure occurred in 2012, it will undoubtedly get searching attention from the Republican-led staff at legislative audit, currently reviewing the office.
By the way: You’ll recall that Mark Darr took credit for pushing a “state checkbook,” a transparency website that is supposed to open government to inspection. Go to his office page on that site now and you can’t find information that Blue Hog dug up from past years. He got that through paper FOI requests. It shows summary spending in the fiscal year that began July 1. Darr has already run up $414 in mileage charges. From where to where for what? Remember, commuting is not allowed as an expense. And remember that payment beyond salary to constitutional officers for personal expenses is also prohibited. You can see the page of information on Darr is not fully transparent. Thanks to Blue Hog, we know politicians like Mark Darr demand closer inspection.