For the Bush team -- so many junkets, so little time

You've been laboring for eight long years in a federal agency as an appointee of George W. Bush. You want to leave on a high note. So what do you do?

Well, if you're one of 28 senior officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, you plan a trip to Mexico to tour the famous Mayan ruins and marvel at the Lacandon rain forest while conferring with counterparts in the Mexican government who will likely never talk to you again because your administration is sunsetting with the inauguration. On the list of those taking the trip: Director Dale Hall, who's leaving his job on Jan. 3, and Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty, who's also departing just after the new president is sworn in.

According to the Washington Post's Al Kamen, the group will visit the Institute of Natural History and Ecology in Chiapas, enjoy receptions and dinner with local officials and have a few hours of meetings before flying back to Mexico. Some on the trip are planning to accept the two-day "optional extension" to see the Michoacan butterfly reserve with its profusion of Monarch butterflies, like the one in the photo above, who migrate every year from Canada.

We have nothing against nature, but we wonder about the wisdom of encouraging trips for officials who are leaving office. And what if the incoming administration has a question to ask of these officials?

Kamen asked Jamie Clark, who headed Fish and Wildlife during the Clinton administration, to look at the itinerary. Clark was not amused, saying:

This is a goodbye boondoggle if I ever saw one. The entire leadership will be gone during the transition.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Luis Acosta / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Ted]

The Bushies just can't stop screwing the taxpayer. The investigations and trials of these characters will continue for years as we attempt to cleanup the Bush/Cheney mess!.

[jimmy simms]

Dale Hall, Lyle Laverty, they don't care about wildlife, they care about politics.

[Karen Case]

As much as the Bush administration has been sandbagged by the MSM and the Dems, I would say a nice big kiss my butt too. They've been accused of everything the Dems have done,so finally you've got some hard hitting edgy evidence to talk about.