Taxpayers Fund Perry's Campaign Travel

Rick Perry is the only sitting governor in the race and says that it's only fitting for his state's taxpayers to pay for his "extravagant" security detail. Because anytime he mentions Texas, they win. Or something.

Available records show that spending on out-of-state travel has skyrocketed since Perry began crisscrossing the nation in pursuit of the Republican nomination. Online reports from Comptroller Susan Combs show that the public safety department has spent more on out-of-state trips from September to mid-December of this year — more than $1.4 million — than it did in the entire 2011 fiscal year, when it spent $1.1 million. The public safety department said last week that the governor’s security for out-of-state trips cost $486,904 in fiscal year 2011. A department spreadsheet shows that the agency spent more than $397,000 to protect the governor on trips in a single month, between Sept. 5 and Sept. 28 this year. That included $161,786 for airfare, $8,140 for baggage fees, $50,648.84 for food, $6,442.24 for fuel, $112,111.81 for lodging, $54,356.65 for rentals, $2,990.26 for parking and $1,238.57 in an unspecified “other” category.