Saturday, August 06, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lawmakers cruise using their money

Cable company offered free trips

Richard Perkins Assembly speaker running for governor Bill Raggio Senate majority leader paid $3,200 for cruise

CARSON CITY -- By paying his way on a cruise offered to him for free by Cox Communications, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins said he avoided any ethical lapses.

Both Perkins, D-Henderson, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, returned with their wives Tuesday from an 11-day cruise with stops in Russia, Denmark and Finland. Cox, the cable TV company in Southern Nevada, hosted the trip for 180 people, most of them advertisers.

Perkins said he paid $4,000 for the cruise, while Raggio paid $3,200. Since Cox received a group discount rate, the amount the politicians paid was much less than if they had booked the cruise themselves.

Prices for Crystal Symphony cruises vary, depending on the type of rooms passengers request. But cruises to the Baltic countries this August cost in the range of $3,415 to $3,999 per person, according to the cruise ship's Web site. That approximates the amounts paid by Raggio and Perkins for both themselves and their wives, indicating they paid about half price.

"Bill and I were offered free trips, but we chose to pay for them," said Perkins, who announced at the end of the 2005 Legislature that he would not seek re-election and would run for governor.

Raggio did not return a phone call seeking comment.

"They invited us on this thing," Perkins said. "I said I would not go unless I paid my bill. I said: 'Give me the bill.' They did. I did not know we were getting a break because they received a group discount."

Perkins said Cox Communications had only one bill before the 2005 Legislature and it never received a hearing. For several legislative sessions, the company has wanted legislators to levy a 5 percent local franchise tax on the TV service offered by satellite TV companies.

The cable TV industry say customers of its TV competitors should be assessed the same tax that its customers must pay. With Gov. Kenny Guinn promising to veto any tax bill, legislators did not take up the Cox Communication request.

Steve Schorr, Cox's legislative lobbyist and spokesman, said Raggio and Perkins paid the rate Cox had secured, which was substantially discounted for booking the large group.

"They told us before they went that they would not go unless they paid their own way, and that is what they did," said Schorr, who also took the trip.

"Never on the entire trip did anyone discuss politics," Schorr said. "We gained a lot of insight about other people. They talked to people in Russia and the changes there since Perestroika. They talked to people in Denmark about living in a welfare state with high taxes."

Perkins said he legally could have accepted a free trip from Cox, if he reported it on financial disclosure statements. Politicians must report gifts of more than $200.

"I chose to pay for it," he said. "I thought that was the right thing."