Major blow to integrity of GOP’s Sutton, Anderson
In attacking Rebecca Otto, Tony Sutton and Pat Anderson made claims about Anderson travel expenses that newly uncovered records reveal are false
video of false statements below
News Release | July 30, 2010
SAINT PAUL – On July 19, GOP party chair Tony Sutton called a capitol press conference in which he misled the media and the public about State Auditor Rebecca Otto’s travel to statutorily required trainings to manage the state’s $50-billion pension system.
Sutton, who served as Deputy State Auditor under former State Auditor Pat Anderson, criticized Otto and told KSTP-TV reporter Tom Hauser that Anderson had only traveled once for pension conferences, and had paid for the travel out of her own pocket.
Anderson made a similar statement at a press conference the next day, telling reporters “When I was State Auditor there was one conference that was billed to the office. I billed $11 for food.” Anderson said she was “shocked” by Otto’s travel to pension conferences. “You need to be educated but you don’t need to be going to national conferences to get that education.”
But a review of newly uncovered travel reimbursements shows Anderson traveled not once but six times to national conferences, three of them pension conferences at locations like Anchorage, Alaska, where her brother is a sled-dog musher, the famous luxury Coronado Island off the coast of California, setting of the movie “Some Like It Hot,” and a third conference called “Guns & Hoses” at the Hilton San Diego Resort. The receipts were uncovered by a targeted DFL Data Practices Act request of the Office of the State Auditor, The Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), and Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB).
The records show that Anderson did not pay for these trips out of her pocket. Anderson’s PERA-related travel cost Minnesota taxpayers an estimated $7,400 including conference fees, airfare, luxury hotel accommodations of up to $388 per night, more expensive than any hotel Otto stayed at, and a $44 cheeseburger dinner. Her DOER related travel cost even more.
Anderson also criticized the travel of Deputy State Auditor and General Counsel Celeste Grant, saying “The big question that would be of interest once the PERA records are there is the Deputy State Auditor Celeste Grant…whether PERA paid any of her costs because she is not a trustee, she’s just a staff person, and…she’s not even eligible to go.”
But the records show that Anderson sent her own Deputy State Auditor and General Counsel Carla Heyl to PERA conferences, including a “Guns & Hoses” conference Anderson also attended, as well as a “Public Boards Forum” conference.
“Travel and education is a required part of responsibly managing the state’s pension system,” said Otto. “I’m pleased to see that Anderson did take this duty seriously.”
Anderson also told the press that Otto should not have traveled “especially starting in ’08, when there was a statewide travel ban” Governor Pawlenty had placed on state agencies. “I was serving as DOER Commissioner at the time, and I had to implement that travel ban,” said Anderson. “Otto was not legally bound by these travel bans. Instead, she ignored the austerity measures the rest of the state was imposing all around her and arrogantly took advantage of out-of-state travel at a time when the state was, and still is, broke.”
But the records show that Anderson herself traveled to an out of state conference in the last days of February of 2008, on Pharmacy Benefits Management, as Commissioner of DOER, just months before her position wound down.
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Spreadsheet summary of Pat Anderson and Deputy Auditor Carla Heyl travel
http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/AndersonTravelSummary.xls
Supporting Documents - Anderson & Heyl receipts were uncovered by the DFL using highly targeted public data requests
Coronado Island trip http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/coronado.pdf
Alaska trip http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/alaska.pdf
“Guns & Hoses” trip http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/guns&hoses.pdf
Anderson DOER travel – 3 trips http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/doer.pdf
Carla Heyl Public Boards trip http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/publicboards.pdf
Ken Anderson Iditarod race http://www.rebeccaotto.com/assets/downloads/anderson_20100720/data/iditarodrace.pdf
Video of Anderson’s quotes contradicted by her own receipts
Anderson: “When I was State Auditor there was one conference that was billed to the office.”
False. The records indicate that Anderson went to not one but six national conferences, including the most expensive hotels and the most exotic, distant and expensive locations, and billed far more than Rebecca Otto.
Otto also went to three National State Auditors Association conferences, but the trips were not required, so she paid for them personally.
Anderson: “The Deputy State Auditor... is not a trustee, she’s just a staff person, and…she’s not even eligible to go... You need to be educated but you don’t need to be going to national conferences to get that education.”
False. Anderson sent her own Deputy State Auditor Carla Heyl, who occupied the same position Celeste Grant occupies, to national conferences, including a "Guns & Hoses" conference Anderson also attended. PERA budgets for two conferences per trustee per year in order to receive adequate training to manage the state's $50 billion pension system.
Anderson talks about the travel ban when Commissioner of DOER
False. Records show that Anderson herself traveled to an out of state conference in the last days of February of 2008, on Pharmacy Benefits Management, as Commissioner of DOER, just months before her position wound down.
Anderson: “The auditor should be setting an example of frugality, and should never, ever lie to the public.”
Anderson: “This is about ethics... I would never lie to the public.”