CITY | STATE Taxpayers foot security bill for trips to Israel
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have showcased their support for Israel, at a cost of more than $156,000 for travel by their state security details.
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have showcased their support for Israel with trips there to promote business development and cultural ties, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $156,000 for travel by their state security details.
Nearly half of that tally — $74,546.87 — was billed by the state detail that protected Paxton on a trip in late May and early June.
Paxton was part of a National Association of Attorneys General delegation on a weeklong trip to Israel. It included seven attorneys general.
His wife, Angela — now a state Senate candidate — accompanied him, and they extended their stay for a week beyond the delegation trip, according to a Paxton campaign spokesman.
Paxton’s direct travel costs were paid by the America-Israel Friendship League, and the attorney general paid personally for his wife’s costs, said the spokesman, Matt Welch.
“Texas has a unique relationship with Israel,” Welch said. “We are a significant economic partner with Israel.”
Welch pointed out that security decisions, as they are with other officials’ staffs, are made by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Security is seen as increasingly necessary for state officials, and the travel costs for the officers who protect leaders are tallied quarterly and made public by the DPS.
Former Gov. Rick Perry’s travel included a 2007 trip to Israel and Jordan at a travel cost for his security team of $29,202.36, and a 2013 trip to Israel with a $13,582.09 travel cost for his security detail. Before him, then-Gov. George W. Bush made a trip to Israel in 1998 before launching his presidential bid.
Abbott’s direct travel costs for a two-day visit to Israel in January 2016 — part of a trip
“Texas has a unique relationship with Israel. We are a significant economic partner with Israel.” Matt Welch, spokesman for Attorney General Ken Paxton
that also included Switzerland — were paid by the economic development entity overseen by his office, a spokeswoman said. That office isn’t funded by state tax dollars.
But the security detail’s travel expense, which is covered by state taxpayers, was $31,983.98 for the Israel part of the trip, according to DPS records.
Baptized in the Jordan
The security detail’s travel costs include such items as transportation, lodging and food, but not salaries or overtime.
“Texas maintains a long and productive partnership with Israel, our country’s strongest ally in the Middle East. As Israel’s No. 1 trading partner in the United States, Texas has a strong interest in their economic success, and Gov. Abbott is proud to have further developed our partnership with Israel to advance these interests. Both Texas and Israel have demonstrated a firm commitment to growing this relationship, and Gov. Abbott looks forward to continuing those efforts,” said Abbott spokeswoman Ciara Matthews.
The direct expenses for Patrick’s seven-day trip to Israel in 2016 were paid by the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association, according to his spokesman, Alejandro Garcia. The travel cost for his security detail totaled $49,800.03, according to DPS.
Patrick was among a number of lieutenant governors on the trip, which drew particular attention because he was baptized in the Jordan River while there.
“It was a truly lifechanging trip,” Patrick said on Facebook at the time.
Patrick backed a measure approved by the Legislature this year and signed into law by Abbott to keep the state from investing in companies that boycott Israel. The law also requires contractors doing business with cities, counties or school districts to affirm that they will not boycott Israel.
While Abbott, Patrick and Paxton are the only statewide officials with a regular security detail reported by DPS, they aren’t the only ones to travel to Israel.
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also went there this year. He paid for the trip through his campaign, according to his political consultant, Todd Smith.
‘Cost of doing business’
Miller had no state security detail, but he didn’t go unprotected, Smith said. Off-duty members of the Israeli Defense Forces volunteered to protect him and those with him, Smith said.
“They volunteered their services because they are such big fans of Commissioner Miller. They knew he was a strong advocate for strengthening ties between Texas and Israel,” Smith said.
Texas officials’ longstanding support for Israel has been highlighted as President Donald Trump has stirred the international pot by recognizing Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbott issued a statement of support for the move in early December, and Patrick was among those signing a Republican Lieutenant Governors Association letter commending the move Thursday.
Miller supported Trump for president in part because of his promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Smith said.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones — who said the security expense is “simply the cost of doing business if you want representative government” — called trips to Israel “primarily symbolic.”
“Israel is a long-standing ally of the United States in a volatile region, and so that’s one reason to go,” Jones said. “The other reason to go is that there is very strong support for Israel among evangelical Christians who represent a large proportion of Republican primary voters and also are a significant source of electoral support for Republicans in the general election.”
“It was a truly life-changing trip.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, on his 2016 trip to Israel