Baucus took girlfriend on taxpayer-funded junkets in 2008

What would a “state director” have to do with overseas Senate junkets?  It apparently helps if the state director is dating the Senator who takes the junket.  The Hill reports that Melodee Hanes, Max Baucus’ girlfriend and his state director, traveled with Baucus on taxpayer funds to the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam in 2008, just before Baucus nominated her to be a US Attorney (via Libertarian Republican):

Former U.S. attorney nominee Melodee Hanes traveled abroad with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and six other staff members twice at the end of 2008, both times as a member of the lawmaker’s office.

Those two trips — to the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam — occurred while Hanes was serving in an official capacity as the state director for the Montana Democrat, but before Baucus recommended her for an attorney position she later turned down. …

All received the same per diem of roughly $200 for the UAE trip and more than $700 for the Vietnam stop, according to foreign travel reports published in the Congressional Record.

While it is normal for staff members to accompany lawmakers on foreign events and meetings, the Senate Finance Committee chairman’s trip in particular could raise some ethical red flags, experts suggested on Saturday.

Hanes has been dating Baucus since the summer of 2008, and if she was invited on a trip that “she would not have gone on otherwise” based on her position, Baucus may find himself in the wrong, noted Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Meanwhile, Baucus’ fellow Senator from Montana tossed him under the bus rather than defend the nomination of Hanes to the US Attorney post.  Jon Tester told Politico that he had supported the nomination as a courtesy to Baucus, and that it was entirely Baucus’ call:

Sen. Jon Tester said Sunday he had limited involvement with fellow Montana Democrat Max Baucus’s decision to float his girlfriend as a possible nominee for a top prosecutor position in Montana.

In an interview with POLITICO, Tester said “no” when asked if he was aware that Melodee Hanes and Baucus were engaged in a romantic relationship when he interviewed Hanes for the position of U.S. attorney in Montana earlier this year.

Tester called Hanes “well-qualified” but said “it was Max’s call” to include her name with two others on a list for the White House to consider before choosing a nominee for the position.

“We interviewed a bunch of folks,” Tester said.

They interviewed a bunch of folks?  What a coincidence that the most qualified candidate happened to be the one sharing Baucus’ bed!

Now we find out that Baucus had Hanes getting per diems for two junkets as well as promoting her for a DoJ position without disclosing his personal relationship with her.  If the Senate has any pretense at enforcing ethics, it should take this up immediately, and with as much relish as their probe into John Ensign’s peccadilloes.  Both involve the potential abuse of power, but Baucus’ has the additional dimension of misuse of public funds and crony corruption in attempting to secure a Department of Justice sinecure — which may have still been successful.

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