New documents have just been posted by the Colorado Government Accountability Project that show State Senator John Morse collecting tax-free per diem while playing golf, having dinner with lobbyists and attending fundraisers in 2010.
For those just tuning into this story, Senate Majority Leader John Morse was found taking per diem payments for virtually every day in 2009 — 331 to be exact. Only members of leadership are allowed to request the $99 per diem payment outside the 120 legislative session, but they are expected to act with discretion and not charge taxpayers for days they are only having fundraisers and campaigning for re-election.
Continuing the document dump, CGAP today released Morse's calendars for all of 2010 and per diem requests from January to July 2010.
You can find the per diem requests for the session here, the per diem requests for outside the session here and Morse's entire 2010 calendar here.
Continue reading for jaw-dropping examples of fraud:
A few key highlights from our initial review of the new documents:
May 17: Morse on a personal trip to DC to attend a graduation. Returns late at night on flight from DC, yet claims “constituent work.”
May 27 & 28: Only thing on his schedule is “campaign work,” yet claims “constituent work,” as a reason for per diem. No, that is voter work, not constituent work. Taxpayers are not meant to subsidize campaigning.
June 21: Morse attends golf fundraiser, a teacher union candidate reception, and finishes his day of deception with dinner with a lobbyist. Claims “constituent work.”
July 15: Morse gets his haircut, has lunch with a judge and then has a fundraiser at night. Claims, you guessed it, “constituent work.”
On all of these days his official calendar shows no substantive work for which he is allowed to request per diem.
Either Morse committed massive fraud on his calendar, or Morse fraudulently bilked the state for per diem dollars he didn't deserve.
What on earth could the media possibly be thinking in avoiding this story! If a Republican was guilty of this, it would be the running story for days!
Lobbyists, politicians lying, golf games on the taxpayer bill. This is what political reporters are supposed to eat for breakfast.
Why the continued silence?
Are there really no reporters worth their salt out there that will cover such an obvious case of ethical impropriety?
This is a sad statement about the media in CO. Wonder if the Rocky would have covered it back in the day?