GOP candidate’s lush life = ND Senate hopeful Berg charged taxpayers for stay at the Ritz, and more
SALON : GOP candidate’s lush life
Documents show that North Dakota Senate hopeful Rick Berg charged taxpayers for a stay at the Ritz, and more
By Alex Seitz-Wald - Thursday, Oct 4, 2012 - http://www.salon.com/2012/10/04/gop_senate_candidate_rick_berg_lived_large_on_the_taxpayer_dime/
The Ritz-Carlton hotel on South Beach in Miami earns its five stars. The iconic hotel, designed by famed modernist architect Morris Lapidus, has been named one of the best hotels in the world by Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure, and it features one of the country’s best spas along with its trademark “Tanning Butler,” who will lather you with sunscreen at your command. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it, especially when you’re not paying for it.
That was the case when North Dakota Republican Rep. Rick Berg, then a state legislator and now locked in an unexpectedly tight Senate race, charged his state’s taxpayers $1,017 for a stay in November 2005 to attend a conference organized by corporate lobbyists. Factor in valet parking, airfare, food and his legislative per diem, and the total bill to the state was $2,441.56.
A year later, the same conference took Berg to the Bacara Resort & Spa in tony Santa Barbara, Calif., ..........
