Gov. Ed Rendell has described his January rescue mission that brought 54 orphans out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti to Pennsylvania as one that cost taxpayers nothing.
But the state plane log for January shows there was a cost to taxpayers after all.
The state Department of Public Welfare was charged $5,578.29 for use of the state plane to transport the governor and the state’s first lady, Judge Marjorie Rendell, to and from Pittsburgh. Once in Pittsburgh, they then boarded a privately-funded plane to travel to Haiti.
After Rendell returned, the governor detailed the red tape that had to be overcome to get the Haitian children under the care of Pittsburgh sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie, on the plane bound for Pennsylvania.
He said he made the trip at the request of the Haitian ambassador, who thought it was important to have someone of the governor’s stature on the plane in case difficulty arose. Rendell said he brought his wife, figuring it couldn’t hurt to have a federal judge on board.
“This trip cost the taxpayers of Pennsylvania nothing,” Rendell said after the trip to Haiti.
Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma said, “I’m sure he interpreted the questions about cost to taxpayers to mean the trip from Pennsylvania to Haiti.”
But Matthew Brouillette, president of the conservative-leaning policy center Commonwealth Foundation of Harrisburg, found the governor’s statement disturbing.
“I think that that’s rather troubling that he would not be honest about the expenses to the taxpayer,” he said.
The welfare department was billed for the cross-state flight because of “the children and youth function related to these kids,” said Stacey Witalec, a department spokeswoman.
Rendell has no plans on reimbursing the department for the trip, Tuma said. He said the governor’s cross-state travels were not merely to help out foreign kids, but also to assist the McMutrie sisters and to fly medical supplies and a team of Pennsylvania medical personnel to Haiti.
Tags: Ed Rendell
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