NJ Governor Among 5 Onetime Prosecutors Criticized for Travel Expenses
Five U.S. attorneys have been singled out in a report for exceeding the government rate while traveling on business.
The report by the Justice Department’s inspector general does not identify the U.S. attorneys accused of paying high rates without justification between 2007 and 2009, according to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. But several have been identified in news accounts. They include:
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, criticized in the report as the U.S. attorney who most often exceeded the government rate without sufficient justification, according to NJ.com and Main Justice. Christie paid $449 a night for the Nine Zero Hotel in Boston and $475 a night for the Four Seasons in Washington, D.C. The amounts are more than twice the government rate. During his campaign for governor, Christie defended his travel spending, saying he always sought government rates first.
• Former U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien of Los Angeles, now a partner at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, who is accused of exceeding the government rate six times without justification. O’Brien is also accused of asking his secretary to falsely claim that more affordable rooms were not available, according to the Los Angeles Times. O’Brien denied any misconduct. He told the Times he will reimburse the government $903 for his hotel stays at more than the approved rate.
• Mary Beth Buchanan, former U.S. attorney for Western Pennsylvania, who is accused of exceeding the government rate at the greatest cost to the government, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The alleged overage is $4,221. According to the report, Buchanan said her secretary failed to notify her when the government rate was not available. After resigning as U.S. attorney, Buchanan waged an unsuccessful run for Congress. She told the Tribune-Review that she disagrees with many details and conclusions in the report.
