Colorado Majority Leader John Morse requested 331 days of Per Diem in 2009

If you've ever had to travel on business you know about submitting claims for extra pay to help reimburse you for food, expenses and travel. John Morse who was the State Majority leader in 1999 submitted claims for the maximum per diem (99$ per day) for nearly every day of the year! These are dollars taken from you in the form of taxes. It is time for Mr. Morse to stand to account for taking advantage of his situation. I am all about being fair in this situation but after I read the report, it appeared just like a government official taking as much as he possible can. While I understand if you are on State business and driving all over the state you should be paid for your time and expenses, however to ask for per diem on days where you are working in the capital I don't think I do understand. You've already been paid for that. Perhaps someone can straighten me out here but it looks a lot like fraud and waste to me.

To make matters worse, the rhetoric that Mr. Morse spits out toward others about "tightening their belt" would make you cringe. The only word that comes to mind here is Hypocrite.

"Recently, Sen. Morse ran an amendment to cut $25,000 from the Attorney General‟s budget. During debate of the same bill, he chastised Secretary of State Scott Gessler for his claims that he could not live on a salary of $68,500. Morse went on to say that Gessler "needed to tighten his belt the way ordinary Coloradans have." "

Colorado Government Accountability Project (CGAP) recently reviewed Sen. John Morse‟s 2009 per diem requests, obtained through an open records request. CGAP has discovered that Morse requested 331 days of reimbursement. This is nearly 100 days more than then Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll requested.

Morse claimed a full 120 days during the legislative session then claimed an additional 211 days, or nearly $21,000, after the end of the session. The majority of those days were labeled as „constituent work‟ on the reimbursement request; such „constituent work‟ was not supported by Sen. Morse‟s calendars. In fact, days where reimbursements were requested the calendar entries reflected haircuts, dentist appointments and packing and moving.


Mr. Bob is a contributing author at the People's Press Collective. Your source for Colorado Politics.
READ THE REST at COLOGAP.ORG
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